The Old Things Have Passed Away
by Mockingeagle
Summary: I'm back! Chapter 20 is up, so R&R and enjoy. Graverobber helps Shilo deal with depression and dramatic changes in her life while recounting past events that led him down his current path. Meanwhile someone plots to kill him and Amber makes life difficult for Shilo. And that's just the beginning of his troubles. Grilo at end of story.
1. Chapter 1

_**I own nothing, not even the DVD of Repo! The Genetic Opera. I watch it online for free and then I'll beg somone to get it for me as a birthday present. **_

**Enjoy and R&R, no flames. **

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><p>Chapter 1: In The Beginning<p>

It had only been a week since Shilo lost everyone who loved her and a lot of changes had happened in her life, Graverobber wasn't surprised, however, to be included. She only really knew four people in the entire world. Her father, a repo-man named Nathan Wallace, who loved her but poisoned her, was gentle but a killer. Blind Mag, her godmother, a woman whose only crime was wanting to quit her job because of what the company she worked for had become over the years. There was also Rotti Largo, he'd wanted to give GeneCo to Shilo but only if she killed her own father, whom he ultimately killed and he had also killed Blind Mag only an short time beforehand which was all right before he died of a terminal illness... right in front of the kid. Graverobber, the fourth person in the world she knew and one of the only two people who had never lied to her, wasn't sure where he stood on his feelings for her. He only knew he got three warm meals a day, a roof over his head, a comfortable bed, and an escape route any other Z dealer would kill for right through Marni Wallace's tomb, the only downside was that his… roommate…ward, maybe?…whatever… was currently an emotional train wreck that was still in the process of wrecking. Shilo would refuse to eat for almost the entire day then maybe she'd come down for a slice of cheese and a couple of carrots but that was about it. She spent most of her time sleeping or crying and it was becoming an obvious pattern. She hadn't taken a shower for six days out of the week that was a day from passing and he had to be frank it was getting to be pretty bad. Graverobber was planning on throwing her into the shower clothes and all and even if that would probably just upset her more it was exactly what he needed to do for her.

She'd been stumbling down the alleyway he did his dealing out of not long after the evening addition of the papers had come out, the opera had been on the front page, and the poor kid would be making headline news for at least a month. She was covered in blood, disoriented, and wailing her lungs out. The junkie he was just shy of shooting up with Z probably would've protested if she and the others surrounding him had not also been distracted by the screaming kid.

"_Kid!" He'd called, "Kid, come here!"_

She had stumbled up to him, had nearly fallen once or twice but he knew the further into the alley she was the safer she was from any GENcops that might be coming for her to bring her to Amber. He'd put his zydrate gun back in the hilt and pushed the people in her way aside. She had immediately buried her head into the crook of his neck when she'd gotten to him, the heels she was wearing had given her height enough to do so, and he placed his hands on her shaking and, he quickly noticed, blood covered shoulders.

"_Kid, are you hurt?"_

"_No."_

"_Then whose blood is this?"_

Upon further inspection he had noticed blood covered her arms and hair as well.

"_Blind Mag's and… and my dad's."_

"_You sure you aren't hurt?"_

"_Yes."_

"_You got anyplace you can go?"_

"_Home."_

"_Then let's go there."_

There of course had been immense protest from his clients but he was a good business man and knew just how to handle them.

"_I realize all of you are only thinking of yourselves, which I understand cause it's something I do every day, but I'll tell you what, the first five customers that are here when it get back get the first hit free," _then he whispered to Shilo, _"I gathered a lot of zydrate the last time I went out."_

The idea had of course appealed to them and he had twice the clients than before when he returned after getting Shilo home. He made her to take a shower and change into some fresh clothes, but she wasn't asleep when he left her. When he got back to Shilo's house at around five in the morning she made him an offer he couldn't refuse. Stay with her, keep her company, keep her from doing anything rash to herself, keep her safe, and he could take up residence in her home where he'd have everything he needed. He didn't think it over too long before he agreed.

They got along well enough considering the immese difference between them but her emotional state was often difficult for him to deal with and more than once Graverobber had to remind himself that it'd be a bad idea to lose his temper around her. He couldn't help how he felt sometimes, he'd come home so riled up by the GENcops interference or the fact that a good portion of the junkie's who got zydrate from him that night had made getting pay from them something similar to pulling teeth from someone who only has gums and he'd be likely to explode at the most minor of things, including poor Shilo. She didn't deserve that kind of treatment, not after all she'd been through.

The argument had started with the execution of his shower plan and a conversation. A few times a day he'd go up to her bedroom to check on her and usually when he did she'd distract him from what he'd be trying to get her to do, like eat or sleep or take a shower, and start on another subject.

"So, kid, you wanna come down and I'll make lunch for you. I'm pretty good with anything I can throw in the microwave."

She gave him the faintest of smiles but it immediately melted back into a frown. Her train was still wrecking, he had to remind himself.

"Graverobber, can I ask you something?"

He sighed, "Sure, kid, what is it?"

"Why do most repo-men do what they do?"

"Kid," he began gently, "I don't think your dad had the same motivations as other repo-men."

"Humor me," she replied.

"Okay. It's the thrill. They never get over the thrill of hunting and killing. Repo-men may be trained as surgeons but most are born killers."

"That's it?"

"Well, I don't know the first thing about psychology kid, but most repo-men are pretty messed up. I knew this one guy wh- Never mind."

"What is it?"

"Nothing kid."

She looked a little disappointed that he wasn't planning on continuing but he couldn't go… _there_.

"So, lunch?" he edged a little closer to her as he asked.

"No thanks, I'm not hungry," she looked down sadly at the floor. Graverobber took seven steps toward her bed where she was sitting.

"You sure, I think we got some leftover Chinese we can nuke."

She giggled a little, "Nuke? How old are you anyway, Graverobber?"

"Hmm? Oh, thirty."

"Holy… you're lying."

"Kid, you are the last person I'd ever lie to," he took another five steps and he was right next to her. She got quiet at his last statement though, he hadn't meant to remind her.

"Kid?" he asked quietly.

"I'm okay and I'm not hungry."

Her answer was a lie but he didn't like tension and decided then and there it was time for a shower, a large grin split his face, "That's okay kid, you're taking a shower anyway."

"Excuse m-"

Before she could question what he'd said he scooped her up into his arms and headed straight for her bathroom.

"Put me down! What are you doing? It better not be anything perverted 'cause that one junkie, Cara, she told me how Amber was paying you that night you saved me from Rotti!"

"Are you even sure what it was she was talking about?"

"Vaguely!"

He couldn't help but laugh, even after he'd introduced her rather abruptly to the seedier side of life she was still so naïve.

"Okay, kid, you've got a choice her. I drop you into this shower onto your sorry butt and start the cold water or you agree to shower and I'll leave you alone."

She seemed to think his offer over then asked, "Do I really smell that bad?"

"Kid, it ain't easy to lose anyone, I been there and done that but I know your dad wouldn't want you letting yourself go just 'cause he died. In short, yes it is that bad and not letting yourself go includes keeping up with bathing."

"Ugh, alright," she conceded, "but would you really have dropped me into the shower and started the cold water?"

"You do realize you're asking me this question, right?"

"In other words, 'Yeah, kid, I definitely would have'," she imitated him, "By the way, you may or may not be aware of the fact that I do have a name."

"I know, kid."

"Now you're just teasing me. Get out! I can't take a shower with you in here."

"I'm gone," he said as he backed out of the bathroom and shut the door. He really hoped she wouldn't want to pick up on the repo-man conversation again. He couldn't bear to go into that, "So what about lunch?"

Her voice was muffled by the door but echoed because of the shower, the depression's return was clear, "Just get me a little something to snack on."

"Kid, you gotta eat an actual meal sometime."

"And I will… eventually."

"I'm warning you, if I find your emaciated corpse lying around here one of these days I will take the zydrate from it and sell it to Amber."

"You wouldn't!"

"Maybe or maybe not, but you know with me there's no telling."

"Just go get your lunch and my snack."

"Fine, I know when I'm not wanted," he said with mock hurt in his voice.

He left her bedroom after making sure there was nothing else she wanted and made his way downstairs. Most people would think it was great to live in a big house like Shilo's but for Graverobber it only took a couple of days for the novelty to wear off. His biggest complaint was he'd get lost trying to find the bathroom and more than once had just up and went to Shilo's bathroom, her room and the kitchen were the only two rooms in the house he could find on his own, most of the time Shilo had to take him to his room so he could go to bed then she went back to bed. Of course none of the guest bedrooms had bathrooms, just bathrooms that were supposedly nearby. Then there was the whole issue with waking Shilo up in the middle of the night to use her bathroom because it was starting to make her mad, he really needed to stop drinking a glass of water before he went to bed. A person's bladder could really make them feel old.

Old, therein lay another problem entirely, their age. He was thirteen years her senior and she was still a minor, now that would be fine if they were related but seeing as they weren't people would start talking about the little opera girl and the drug dealer as soon as they caught wind of it. Everything would go downhill from there. Most of the time he didn't care if people said things about him, he'd either let it go or if he did care…well it depended on what blunt or sharp object was most conveniently available to him. The kid on the other hand, considering her currently very fragile mental state, probably couldn't take it. He'd have to stay low whenever, if any, company came over.

The kitchen was by far his favorite place in the entire house, everything he wanted was easily accessible in that one room. Food was in the fridge, pantry, and cupboards. There was a TV in the corner of the kitchen counter. An island with storage space where all the cooking pots and pans were stored had cushioned chairs on the side of it that faced the TV. The place was paradise to Graverobber who had always been a man of simple wants and needs. While the house's all around bigness was offensive to his preferred lower class state of being he found he could tolerate the high life to some small degree.

"Let's see," he mumbled as he opened the fridge door, "What do we have?"

There wasn't much left in the fridge and soon someone was going to have to go shopping. He wasn't sure how that was going to work out but he'd cross that bridge when he came to it. In the fridge and freezer was a half a block of cheddar cheese, a frozen pepperoni pizza, and a small pack of lunchmeat. There were crackers in the pantry and only flour and sugar was left in the cupboards. When he'd started living with Sh- in Shilo's house, even thinking that he lived with her would imply something more, the first thing he did was go grab lunch for himself and the first thing he noticed was how low on food the house already was. Apparently Nathan only bought enough food for one week and while it was the same amount of people in the house still Graverobber knew he ate considerably more than Nathan. He also knew he could probably eat the entire pizza himself and for Shilo he could cut up some of the cheese and lunchmeat, grab the snack crackers to put it on and make it into a hors d'oeuvre platter for the kid to pick at.

"That'll work."

By the time the pizza had cooked and the cheese and lunchmeat had been sliced up and they along with the crackers given their own separate pile on a plate Shilo had finished her shower. Her bathrobe was wrapped tightly around her and she had replaced her favorite black wig on her head. She was pretty embarrassed about having her wig off around him so she typically kept it on. He noticed her middle was smaller then it had been six day ago and he couldn't help but think that she was skinny to begin with but now… He'd have to get her to start eating regular meals again.

She sat down on one of the chairs and looked at her food distastefully, pushed it away, and looked up at him, "Graverobber, can you tell me more about repo-men?"

Of course she couldn't leave it alone, "What do you wanna know, kid?"

"Are they all… y'know…messed up in the head?"

"Couldn't say for sure."

She bit her bottom lip, "Are they recruited or do they come to GeneCo on their own?"

"Can't say."

"Do you know anything about them or are you just guessing about them?"

"Cla- no."

"You were about to say something else," Shilo accused.

"Yes, I was," he conceded.

"Are you- are you lying to me! Keeping things from me?" She chocked back a sob.

"I never said my life was open book, kid."

"I know, but what does that have to do with repo-men?"

"I told you, I've had to get on with my life after losing someone too. Maybe not in so many words but I've told you."

"So, this is because someone you cared about was killed by a repo-man?"

"No," he replied solemnly.

"Then what!"

"Cl- it doesn't matter!"

"You did it again, Graverobber, you were about to say something else."

She was openly weeping now and he knew he had to reign in his temper before it got the better of him. He needed some air.

"Just put that pizza in the fridge, I'll have it later," first he had to assure her he had no intention of leaving then, "I'm going for a walk, I probably won't be back till late." He turned on his heel and left the kitchen, he was almost to the door when Shilo called out a question to him.

"What were you about to say, Graverobber?"

"Look, kid, it's no-"

"Do you not trust me?"

"It's not that at all!" His hand was on the doorknob.

"Then what?"

"Nothing," and he swung the door open and slammed it behind him but not before he heard her ask him again what it was he'd almost said. He couldn't believe he'd almost let that slip, too, but old habits die hard.

"_I remember"_

He'd mend fences with her later, right now he needed to walk it off. When it got dark he'd go to one of the graveyards near Shilo's house and gather zydrate then he'd head back there and hopefully this whole thing would be forgotten. He had to say it though, had to get it out of his system before he let it slip out , before he said it right to Shilo and... and what? What was there to lose or gain if she found out?

_Trust _

_Affection _

_Friendship_

What would she think of him if she knew? Did he care?

_Assassin_

_Murderer_

_Monster_

_"I remember"_

He had to say it and he had to say it now, those habits which may reveal something about his past he didn't want Shilo to know were the most dangerous. Even still, he knew if he didn't say it at least once he'd let it slip at a bad time.

He heaved a heavy, world weary sigh and whispered, "Classified repo-man information."

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><p><em><strong>I'D REALLY APPRECIATE IT IF YOU ACTUALLY READ THIS AUTHOR'S NOTE<strong>_

**A/N: So this being the first chapter I really haven't gotten into the gritty stuff yet but it'll be there. I honestly DO NOT like to cuss (in writing especially) so you won't be seeing that in here though it would be in character I just can't do it and don't ask why. This story was mainly inspired by "Zydrate Anatomy" "Legal Assassin" and "Night Surgeon". I honestly don't think there's going to be anyone interested in this story but if there is I will start, against my better judgement because I'm working on so many other stories, posting chapters as regularly as possible (as soon as I write them). Also, if you do read this then also review. I cannot begin to stress the importance of this because it let's me know what you think of the story and what I need to work on. Not that anyone is even going to like this story that is. Man, posting this story is giving me an anxiety attack, seriously I'm not joking with you. I so much want to do justice to the characters and the wonderfully gritty world of Repo! but I'm just so nervous I'm not :( I better stop ranting. Also, don't flame this story in the reviews, you may not like it but it doesn't mean I need to read your rude expression of opinion. I also can't promise every chapter will be this long but I'll try not to make them too long or too short either. **


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Pain

_Contrary to popular belief Graverobber had had two fantastic parents, a decent home life, friends, and a mind and heart that were not jaded… at least not until…_

They were rolling down a hill, innocent flowers crushed under their weight. The world turned right side up and upside down over and over. The sun shone brightly overhead, a jewel in the vast blue sky. There was screaming and _it_ was everywhere, the _red_ was everywhere. He had jumped out of nowhere right into the path of their car and they'd had to swerve to miss him. The turn was too sharp, though, and the car flipped onto its side and didn't stop flipping over and over until they were at the bottom of the steep hill of black dirt. Red was everywhere now. It was on the floor, ceiling, and seats. It covered him and his parents as they hung upside down by their seatbelts. It was everywhere. There was an eternity within the minutes in which he refused to acknowledge what the dark red liquid was. He did not, for several minutes, accept that the two bodies on either side of him with empty, wide eyes and white bones jutting right out of their arms and legs were his parents. Then, when it finally came crashing down on him that the red was blood and the bodies were that of his parents did he scream. It ripped right from the depths of a soul the eleven year old hadn't, until now when it was torn up inside of him, believed he had. He stopped when his voice refused to make noise anymore. There was a silence that seemed like the calm before the storm and another scream broke the silence, it was the begging, pleading, and sobbing of a man.

"No! Please no! I just need another month, I can pay! I can pay! I CAN PAY!"

He could see the man, it was the one who'd run in front of their car, through the broken windshield and he was backing away from something or someone. A black shape, a living shadow that rarely showed up in the light of day, rushed the man and knocked him to the ground and he promptly passed out from the blow to the head. The black clad man went to work at the job the young boy immediately concluded by the appearance of this stranger was organ repo. He felt, all at once terrified, disgusted, perhaps morbidly fascinated and oddly…glad. Yes, glad that this man, who just had to be addicted to surgery like the rest of the world, who could not keep up with his payments for his organs, who ran from the repo-man who came to take what was rightfully GeneCo's, who ran right into the path of their car, who caused his parents death was dying in such an awful and painful way. The man's heart came out with a squish sound that sent chills up the boy's spine. The repo-man's fierce glowing eyes turned his way after the he stored the heart in what looked like a cooler. He stood slowly, examining the upside down wreck that was their car. He punched a button on his wrist communicator and called an ambulance then headed towards the car and stuck his head through the windshield. It quickly crossed the eleven year old's mind that that was probably not a very good idea.

"Is anyone in here alive?" His voice was gravely and evil sounding.

The boy tried his best to answer but all he could manage was a groan of pain; he wasn't even sure what was broken but something sure was.

"The ambulance will be here soon," the repo-man's voice had changed now, it sounded gentle and fatherly, "I'm sorry this happened."

He didn't think too much on the change nor did he allow his eyes to wander to his dead parents. He was tired and the only thing he wanted to do was sleep for the rest of his life. Dark spots were intruding upon his vision and he was fighting for awareness of his surroundings.

"Don't worry, it shouldn't be much longer," the repo-man assured him. Somehow, a repo-man of all people reassuring him and trying to make him feel better just seemed wrong.

For his part, the boy held out until the ambulance arrived only then did he allow himself to slip into the dark oblivion of unconsciousness…

His sleep was riddled with nightmares of cars crashing and blood everywhere, of men being ripped in two by a shadow and feeling cold satisfaction of the death of this man. He woke with a small gasp of fear that did not escape his lips. The first thing he noticed was that he had a pounding headache, it drummed out a tune in his head and kept him from returning to sleep. With nothing better to do he tried to wake himself up. The pain hit him first and he felt his muscles constrict from the shock and intensity of the pain which seemed to cover his entire body. When the pain began to subside his muscles relaxed and he began breathing again. The first of his five senses that started working again when he regained semi-consciousness was his hearing and the first thing he heard was yelling.

"How did your target manage to escape so many times! How could you let that chase go on for as long as you did?" The voice was deep and hinted of a well hidden accent.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Largo, but you neglected to tell me he was a marathon runner. I'm just a surgeon. The blame falls on me, yes, but that bit of information would have made repossessing his heart easier. That boy might still have his parents," the voice that said this was familiar and he soon realized it was that of the repo man who'd killed the man that caused their car crash and called the ambulance.

"What do you propose we do then, Nathan!"

"What can we do, Rotti, but put him in the orphanage? We checked and he has no other family, it's the only thing we can do for him."

He didn't want to go to an orphanage; he knew what went on in those places and it wasn't nice. He tried to open his mouth but after three or four tries he knew it was not willing to do what he wanted. Instead, he focused on opening his eyes. He was about ready to give up after the fifth try when light shone through the small opening his eyes had allowed him to make. Encouraged by this small success he opened his eyes slowly, allowing them to adjust to the light, until they were fully opened. Before him stood the stout and familiar figure of Rotti Largo, owner and CEO of GeneCo. His dark hair and tailored suit were familiar to the world, but never could the boy have imagined seeing the man in real life. Beside him was smaller man who wore glasses, he was unassuming in appearance but the minute he spoke it was obvious to him that this was the repo-man, "How are you feeling?"

The boy tried once again to make his mouth work and this time with more success than previously, "Not so good. Mom and Dad are dead."

"Yes, they are and I'm so sorry."

"Not your fault, guy couldn't make his payments. I'm glad he's dead."

"You're going to be sent to an orphanage, young man, do you understand?" Asked Rotti Largo.

"No," was his plain answer to owner of GeneCo.

"But you don't have any place else to go to," explained the man whom Rotti called "Nathan."

"I don't care."

Nathan sighed and looked at him sadly. This was clearly a man with a great burden on his shoulders, "Mr. Largo-"

"Curse your bleeding heart, Nathan, there is nothing else we can do!"

" Well, I could take him in."

"And pray tell, how exactly you plan on making time for a child and repossessions. No, I'll have none of it," his accent became more obvious with the rise of his temper and he paused a moment to calm down , sighed and said in a voice that did not hide his concession to Nathan well, "If any compromise is to be made then perhaps it ought to be that he is allowed to live in my home but responsibility for him ultimately falls on you."

"I think that's a fair compromise, Mr. Largo. What do you think?"

"I guess that works. How'd they die?"

"I'll tell you later, but right now you need to rest."

"Yeah, sure. Your name's Nathan right? That's what I heard Mr. Largo call you."

"Yes, it is."

"Can you at least tell me how I'm hurt?"

"One of your leg is broken clean in half, but that'll make the healing process easier," he was all doctor now, "You seemed to have suffered a minor concussion that may affect your vision later in life. A couple of you ribs are broken and you needed some stitches over one of your eyebrows."

"Anything else?"

"No."

"Thanks," he croaked out.

The listened to the beeping of the monitors and the patter of feet passing by the door to his room. The monotonous sound was comforting and he found his breathing had synced up with the rhythm of the hospital ward. He tried to remain conscious but found himself prone to nodding off. When he was finally ready to give up the fight for consciousness he was woken up some by what he heard Rotti and Nathan talking about, namely him.

"He doesn't seem that upset about his parents, Nathan."

_Right now__,__ I'm not sure how to feel about my parents._

"Give it a day or two, Rotti. Right now, he's numb and still trying to process what has happened to him."

_That's probably true._

"The child psychologist wants to see him when he's up to it," Rotti said this with little interest, "How long do you think that'll be?"

_Forever, if I have a say._

"It's difficult to tell, but I'd give him a week to rest. Let his body heal and it'll be that little bit easier to heal his mind."

_You sound awful sure of yourself._

"Very well, I'll have his room set up by the time he's discharged from the hospital. It's to my understanding that his parents never had a single surgery in their lives."

_Funny, I thought he'd be upset with anyone who never had a surgery__,__ but__...__he sounds just fine with it__._

"Yes, that's true," Nathan replied, "It seems they were part of a group of purists."

_Yeah and they ar- were proud of that fact._

He heard the door open and footsteps then a woman's voice spoke, "Rotti, Dr. Wallace I think you should let the poor boy sleep. All your talk is keeping him up, I'm sure. Mag's waiting in the lounge. Rotti, we're meeting with the florist today to go over the flower arrangements. I want everything to be perfect for our wedding."

"Of course, Marni, Nathan will you help us out?"

"Of course, Rotti."

He heard them exiting the room and the click of a light being shut off. He remembered now, there had been an announcement just last week that Rotti Largo was to marry a woman named Marni. The whole world would ,of course, be in on the details. He briefly wondered if he would get to see her the next time Rotti Largo and Nathan the Repo-man visited. He was alone now and while his physical pain had settled into a dull roar the pain that was far too emotional ate away at him without the presence of others to distract him . He would have tossed and turned in his hospital bed, he even tried to at one point, but it made his injuries scream in protest which made him scream too. He feared the return of his nightmares, the sleep he had felt coming on before he'd overheard Rotti and Nathan's conversation had potential to be peaceful but now it didn't look like that was going to happen anytime soon. He began to panic as he wondered if he'd ever sleep again, if he was going to spend the rest of his life awake. In his panic he didn't notice the heart monitor increased speed, didn't hear the nurse walk in, didn't feel the orderlies hands holding him down, didn't feel the needle go into his are, and didn't realize he was asleep until the nightmares began again.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I don't own TobyMac's song "Start Somewhere" **

**Sorry I haven't uploaded any chapters in awhile. My editor has been sick and busy with college so she hasn't been able to edit things for me. This chapter, please forgive me, is pretty fluffy. Sorry again. But the next chapter and the one after it are pretty intense. Yeah, I'm writing chapter 4 and 5 at the same time. Anyways, enjoy the chapter and please review, I'd like to know what you think. Indigo is supposed to be that one junkie in Zydrate Anatomy and the others (Jo, Calvin, Marvin, and Myrna) are mine. **

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><p>Chapter 3: Start Somewhere<p>

He forgot his jacket; of all things to forget, he forgot his jacket with all the things he needed to extract zydrate from corpses. This meant he had two choices; one, go back to Shilo's house and grab his jacket and Z extraction tools and risk an encounter with the house's owner, or two, just not work tonight and keep walking until he felt like going back. He hadn't meant to snap at the kid but organ repo was not his favorite topic of conversation and she wouldn't let it go. He'd been walking for five hours now; he was the kind of person who could walk forever if he wanted, and the dark of night was his place of comfort. Nothing could touch the Graverobber at night. He was respected on the streets, people knew not to cross him and it had only taken two years to earn that reputation. He may not have been the most organized dealer on the streets, but he did get the most business. While other dealers spent their time spreading their tendrils throughout the city in a vain attempt to make an empire out of zydrate dealing, an impossible task at best, and trying to climb to the top of a ladder that didn't exist, Graverobber spent his time building up his supply of zydrate to deal out when money got tight and he needed it fast. He saw something move in his peripheral vision and turned to face whatever was there. What stood before him was relatively benign. A pink corset, extra short black shorts, pink fishnet, white boots, and spiky blue hair was not threatening in the least, especially when worn by a desperate and chronically broke junkie by the name of Indigo. However if the outfit she wore was being worn by a body builder with a short fuse then Graverobber might be a little intimidated… after he stopped laughing.

"Hey, Graverobber, where ya been?" She asked with a tone of voice that indicated she really didn't want to make small talk, just get her glow.

"With the kid," there was no sense in telling her otherwise, all of his clients knew he was living wit- in the same home as Shilo Wallace.

"So...you got any zydrate on ya?"

"Sorry, I'd be more than happy to sell to you, but the thing is...I forgot my jacket in my room and it had all my zydrate and my extraction tools with it. The kid an' I got into a fight so I don't wanna head back there yet. Don't worry though, I'll be out here tomorrow night."

"Wait a min', you fought with your girl?"

Graverobber knew where this was going and it only made sense that everyone would think that there was more than just friendship between him and the kid but he didn't want to hear it said out loud. It probably didn't help that Indigo was, he admitted, notoriously good at getting couples, which he and Shilo were not a couple, back together and thus thought she was the local expert.

"She isn't my girl...but, yes I did."

"Okay, whatever. How long since you left the house?"

"Five hours," he replied warily.

"That's enough time. Go get flowers or somethin' else she likes and go an' apologize, it's that simple."

"I don't know about that Indi, she's a pretty complicated girl."

"She's complicated," she shrugged her shoulders, "yeah, maybe but she's still a girl, a young girl too, she ain't even legally an adult, and besides they always fall for the mushy lovey-dovey stuff."

Graverobber thought it over for a moment, "I can't think of something she'd like."

"You're thinkin' bout' it so you're on the right track. She got any hobbies?"

"Bugs."

"Huh?"

"She likes bugs, studying them and stuff like that. She captures them, they die, she studies them for a while then she puts em' in a display like they're art work or something."

Indigo's face contorted in disgust, "So, you and your girl got like hobbies; you both like to mess with corpses."

"You got me there."

"I do. So, do it in this order. Go get her a bug somethin' or other, go back to the house and apologize, give her the gift, and grab your jacket and get your butt out here so you can provide for your girl," with that she shoved him in the direction of the house.

"She isn't my girl," Graverobber called back to her. He'd have to remember that Indigo did this for him the next time she was broke and needed a hit of Z; maybe he'd buy her some food after that, just because her advice might put the kid permanently off the subject of repo-men if he played his cards right. So maybe he had been a little too defensive but she could tell he didn't like the subject and she kept pushing it anyway. Maybe he was the one in the wrong though, didn't she deserve to know about the life her father led no matter how terrible? But…

_God knows we've got to start somewhere_

_Cause' I'm messed up_

_And you're broken_

_And those shots we fired are still smokin' _

He had about two hundred in cash on him but even with that he wasn't sure quite what to get her. He only had a vague idea of what she even liked. He remembered something he'd read once when he was in high school about how some people feel more loved by someone when they receive gifts from them and he wondered if that was how Shilo was or if he would end up offending her by getting her something instead of making things better by _only_ apologizing. He could picture the scenario in his mind…

_"Really, Graverobber? You think you can buy me over with a stupid gift!"_

Or maybe he was over thinking things and this would actually improve his image to her.

_"Oh, Graverobber, it was so~ sweet of you to get me a gift, I'll never bring up repo-men again."_

He doubted she'd react like that but if she was happy and he was forgiven for snapping at her then everything would be fine. There were a few stores he knew would sell something the kid would like in "bug somethin' or other". The only place that he could think of that might have what he was looking for was a little shop, Jo's Thrift Shop, which he passed by a few times a night when he was selling zydrate and visited once or twice a month. It was also the clothes store where he'd bought his jacket… that he forgot tonight. It also sold inexpensive jewelry, and it was where he'd brought the chain for his magnifying glass for repair. It had been broken off in a fight he'd gotten into with another dealer over a cemetery they both frequented, the very cemetery where Marni Wallace had been laid to rest.

_"The past leads to the present. The past shapes the future."_

She just couldn't let the repo-men conversation go, he'd have nightmares tonight and the resurfacing memories were as equally unpleasant. The thrift shop's sign, which proudly declared that it was indeed Jo's place of business in big black letters on a yellow background. It nearly fell as the glass door closed behind him. The place was really getting rickety. There was a fat, bald man with a cigar between his teeth behind the counter and Graverobber couldn't help thinking what a cliché that was. Graverobber hadn't seen him before, so he must have been new.

"Hey there, pal. What can I do for you?" He asked in gravelly voice.

"I'm looking for Jo. She and I have had some business transactions in the past and I wanted to talk to her about getting something for a girl."

"Hmm, well we got jewelry and clothes, women love that stuff," he laughed, "Jo isn't back from buying us all lunch, but if you want I can show you some of the stuff we have around here."

Graverobber was more than a little skeptical of the man's knowledge of winning a woman over but he did want to look at what the shop had so he bit his tongue. The large man who introduced himself as Calvin brought out two small cases full of rings from under the counter and put them out for Graverobber to see. He scanned them with his eyes for a few minutes going over each one when it hit him that she'd take it the wrong way.

"Umm, y'know I better not cause' she'd think I'm proposing and I'm not ready to make that sort of commitment to a girl I've only known for a little over a week."

He laughed again, louder than the last time, "Well, why didn't you say you've only been with her for that long? Y'know her sizes?"

"Come to think of it…no, I don't."

"Well then…what kind of girl is she? Hey! Does she like books? I know my daughter does."

"Yeah, actually she does. In fact there's a severe shortage of anything not to do with medicine in the main library."

"Right over there," Calvin pointed one of his chubby fingers to the right of the store.

Graverobber's eyes followed that general direction and saw a small bookshelf filled with, what else, books.

"Thanks," he said and walked over to the shelf. Most of the books were cheap and tawdry romance novels. She already probably thought he was a pervert since he told her that he was thirty; finding out you're living in the same house as a thirty year old man would kind of creep him out if he were a seventeen year old girl too, so he didn't need to add fuel to the fire by buying her one of those poor excuses of literature. He looked down to the last shelf and saw more of the same, _Thugs and Their Loves, She's His Baby, Night Love, Bitten By Love: A Vampirism Romance Novel, You Had Me at Hello, Photography of Bugs As An Art. _Hold on a second that last one didn't sound like a cheap romance novel. He pulled it off the shelf and looked at the cover, on it was a close up picture of a bug that he had to admit was very impressive, _She'd love this._

He put the inch and a half thick book on the counter, "How much is this?"

"Hmm, nineteen...and we take cash, if ya don't mind."

Graverobber handed him a twenty, the man put the book in a grocery bag, and gave him his change.

"Thanks."

He heard the door open behind him and he turned to see who it was, Jo. She was impossible to miss anywhere she went, she had neon yellow hair that she kept up in several ponytails using several different colored scrunchies and hair ties, she wore clothes that mismatched in patterns and color, a different shoe was on each foot, and that was only the beginning of her peculiarities. She was also one of the only people Graverobber knew who used a sewing machine from the year 2000. Then again, he didn't know a lot of people who sewed. All the clothes in her shop were made by her for people of varying sizes and she even took special orders; his jacket was an example of one such special order. There were several bags hanging off her arms that all smelled like food. She turned in a circle once or twice and looked all around the store.

"Hey, Jo!" He greeted.

She looked up from milling around in her patch work purse to look at him.

"Looky what the cat dragged in, how've you been Graverobber?"

"Fine, Jo. You?"

"Bout' the same as I always am. What you need?"

"I was wondering if you have any loose fitting dresses that I could buy. Y'see this gir-."

She cut him off, "Who'd you lose a bet to this time 'round?"

"What do you mean?"

"You don't have a girlfriend so I can only assume you're going to wear it. All the ones I have right now are too small for you though, I'll have to make some adjustments," she set the bags down on the front counter and began rummaging through a stack of papers that lay strewn across her workspace that was close by, "G's, G's, where are those G's!"

"Jo? Jo!"

"Don't you call me Jojo," she scolded.

"I'm trying to get your attention."

She turned to face him with a scowl on her face, "What for?"

"Because I like to make futile attempts at things like fitting a square peg into a round hole, walking into walls to exit buildings, and trying to get your attention. The dress isn't for me it's for a girl I need to apologize to."

"Why didn't you say so? The dress is thirty-five dollars."

"I haven't picked one out yet."

"Why would you pick it out? You're a man."

"I know what this girl likes."

"You've only known her a week," interjected Calvin.

"You aren't helping," replied Graverobber.

"If you've only known her a week I cannot, in good conscience, allow you to buy her a dress."

Graverobber shoved the thirty-five dollars into her open hand with a huff. She folded the money up and put it in her purse, and she then walked over to the mini fridge by her work space and put the purse inside. He wasn't going to ask why.

"I hope she likes it," she said with a broad smile on her face as she walked over to him.

He rolled his eyes a little more dramatically than necessary and thought, _Good ole crazy Jojo. _He couldn't help but laugh. Jo gave him a funny look. Something moved behind him and he turned his head to see Myrna dusting his back; she took obsessive cleanliness to a whole other level, but she and her husband were an elderly couple whom Graverobber had grown quite fond of in the five years he'd known them. Their names were Marvin and Myrna, and while he didn't get the joke, they called themselves M&M. Jo had a large golden heart in her chest and when the couple needed some money she hired the odd pair on the spot. Myrna moved on to the display window that said the store's name in pink. He did a double take as he looked at her, and it seemed the batty old woman had died her curly hair purple and blue. Myrna busied herself dusting the display cases and tidying up whatever mess she happened upon.

"Hello, Myrna."

She turned around and gave him a warm smile, "Graverobber, have you broken that chain again?"

"No," he thought a moment then said, "While Jo is getting that dress I'd actually like to look at the pins here, y'know the one's with the jewels on them. I'd like to have a look at whatever ones you have with some sort of bug design on them."

"Bugs? Well, let's have look, hmm?"

He followed her to the display case next to the entrance and she pointed out a few to him. One had a beetle made out of rubies, _That has to be the most expensive thing here, _the next was an aquamarine and crystal butterfly, _I don't think that a butterfly is the kid's style_, his eyes wandered over the display case until they landed on a dragonfly pin that was priced at forty-five.

_"It doesn't matter how much it cost him kiddo, it's the love and thoughtfulness behind the gift."_

"I'll take that one," he said as he pointed at the green and blue dragonfly. As soon as he and the kid made up there would be no more talk of organ repo, especially since his traitorous mind seemed determined to make him relive the past.

"Marvin has the key to open the display case. Let me call him."

Panic hit him like a stampede of elephants, "Myrna, you don-"

"MARVIN!MARVIN!"

He could have sworn the room shook. That old woman sure had a set of lungs on her.

"What!" asked the old man as he shuffled out of the back room "There something- twenty- you need?"

"Key number fifteen, Marv."

He threw the ring of keys at her and she caught it effortlessly.

"Twenty!" He shouted as he returned to the back room.

Marvin counted everything, Graverobber couldn't even begin to list the amount of things the elderly man counted and the count began anew each day. He looked over to see Jo folding a black sun dress with large blue diamonds going across the front. She was sniffling and was probably about to cry.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Oh, I'm depressed with the world in general again. It's that story about that girl from the opera, it really broke my heart."

"Well, Jo, if it makes you feel any better you're about to make her day just a little brighter. Y'see the girl I've been living with this past week is the opera girl."

"You got into an argument with that poor little dear!" She shouted.

"Yes, but it was abou-"

"I don't care what it was about, Graverobber! You go back to that house and get on your hand and knees and apologize to her, beg her forgiveness!" With a sudden shift in mood, she said calmly, "Oh dear, I almost forgot to tell you. There was a man here yesterday asking about you, I told him I had no clue what you'd been up to lately and to ask your clients instead."

That was unusual. Most Z users knew where to find him at night. Unless of course this wasn't a glow addict that was looking for him, but that left few others who'd seek him out except maybe one of Amber's men. That was probably who was looking for him, it was one of Amber's hit men. He'd have to be on guard but otherwise there wasn't much to worry about. Myrna had put the pin on a bed of cotton in a silver box. He took the box from her and put it in with the dress that Jo handed to him and the book, he hadn't really thought about what he'd been spending and he wondered if that was the thought and heart behind gifts. He left the store with the bag slung over his shoulder. Now all he had to do was come up with a _really good_ apology.

The walk to the house was spent coming up with apologies and scrapping them when they came out all wrong. Too sappy, too nonchalant, too much like begging, too many openings for later repo-man conversations, and some sounded so unlike him he was afraid she'd think someone gave him a script. He punched in the numerical code to open the gate and walked down the dimly lit to the pathway. He was about to walk up to the door when he walked into something. He looked down and saw a medium size, plain, brown box and he picked it up to examine it. In bold letters written in black ink on the top of the box read his name…his _actual_ name. It read ...


	4. Chapter 4

**READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTE, THERE'S A BIG ANNOUNCEMENT IN IT.**

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><p><strong>AN: Time for the big reveal, Graverobber's actual name (or at least his first name) in this story. I wanted something common but still suitable for him. I got the name from a song I really like called "Turn Around" which I felt sort of encompassed the big picture of this story. So after this chapter my psychology major cousin/ editor is really going to come in handy because I don't know a thing about psychology. These next couple of chapters are all going to be around 2,000 words (so short-ish for me, I'd like to do around 3,000 words for chapters, I did mention this is my first serious story) but after three or so of those short chapters they'll start to get pretty long. I don't know how fast I'll have them out since they're mostly in my head right now but they'll be out in the near future, rest assured. The song "What I've Done" by Linkin Park is the theme for this chapter FYI. "Pain" by Three Days Grace was the second chapters theme but I forgot to mention that, sorry. Now for my very BIG announcement. Upon the insistence of my previously mentioned cousin, the author Toilet, she will co-author an interlude to this story with me detailing "The History of Zydrate". She had such a fantastic idea for it that I couldn't let it go. I'm not sure when it'll be out but I plan on beginning work on Dec. 17, 2011. First she has to watch the movie, she's been to scared to. The first thing from Repo! I showed her online was "A Thankless Job" and it sort of scarred her for life, I then proceeded to tell her about what Blind Mag did at the end of "Chromaggia". Anyway I hope you're interested in "The History of Zydrate". Once again, read and review, constructive criticism welcome,outright flaming rejected. People who flame need to get a life. Most importantly ENJOY:)**

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><p>Chapter 4: What I've Done<p>

Matthew. No one had called him by that name in eight years, some days he even forgot that was his name. There were very few who could connect the dots between Graverobber and Matthew from all those years back. Not even Amber, Luigi, and Pavi had figured it out. That being said, it had been twelve years since they'd seen Matthew though not more than a week since one of them last encountered Graverobber. There were people who knew that the two were one in the same. Four of them were dead and gone, three would never tell a soul, and one had disappeared although he was certain he would have heard through some source or another if he'd died. The grocery bag was digging into the wrist it hanged off of and was cutting off the blood to his hand. He maneuvered the box onto his shoulder and used his free hand to open the door.

"Hey, kid, I'm back!" he called out.

He saw the light in Shilo's room go on as he stood by the fireplace where he could see part of her door.

_Is she still angry_? "I want to talk to you," he placed the box on the mantel of the fire place right in front of the holo-portrait of her mother, Marni "about our argument. I'm sorry I snapped at you." He heard footfalls on the hardwood floor and her door opened halfway.

"You mean it?" she asked timidly.

He sighed, "Yes, have I ever lied to you?

"No," she bit her bottom lip and opened the door the rest of the way, "I'm sorry I pushed the subject, I could tell you didn't want to talk about it an-"

"It's not a big deal, kid."

She smiled, genuinely happy, "So what's in the bag and box?"

"Well, I kinda went shopping and I have this problem with impulse buying and…well…I hope you're the type of girl who likes to be lavished with gifts."

She looked at him puzzled, "What do you mean?"

He walked up the stairs and held out the bag to her. She was hesitant but took it regardless of misgivings that were probably along the lines of "what would a thirty year old drug dealer consider a good gift to give to the teenage girl he lives in the same house as and is in no way related to". She put her back against the wall and plopped down to the ground. Looking up at him she patted the space next to her and he sat down in the same fashion as she had. She pulled out the book first and put the bag on the ground. She didn't say anything for several seconds but instead stared at the book wide eyed.

"It's fantastic!" Shilo finally exclaimed, "Where did you find this?"

"A thrift shop downtown, why?"

"This isn't just any old bug photography book, Graverobber! These pictures were taken by the foremost expert in insect photography, BJ Manning!"

_You can be an expert in that?_ "Um…glad you like it!"

"You know you didn't have to buy me anything to apologize, right?"

"Well, I figured it was good insurance just in case."

She placed the book back in the bag and pulled out the silver box that contained the dragonfly pin. She opened the box, looked at him, looked back at the pin, looked back to him and slapped him on the shoulder.

"What was that for?"

"You didn't need to spend so much on me."

"I don't know how much I spent, I repeat, I am an impulsive buyer."

"Tell me, now, just how much you spent."

"Why?"

"Because if you run out of money I'm not helping you if the loss could have been avoided."

"Let's see…"_The book cost nineteen dollars, the pin cost forty-five, and the dress cost thirty-five. Man, Jo's Thrift Shop really doesn't allow thriftiness and I'm not sure if that's a word. Anyway…_a chalkboard appeared in his head with the numbers on it and he added them together, _Ninety-nine! How did I manage to spend that much, _"Uh…y'know what, I can't remember."

"I don't believe you. I do like the pin though, thank you."

"Now that last thing in there, it may need adjustments."

She quirked a suspicious eyebrow at him and pulled out the folded dress. She unfolded it slowly and smiled happily when the she saw the whole dress.

"Thank you Graverobber, you didn't need to do this but it makes me happy you did anyway."

"Now about this money business, kid, we need to get something straight. Z junkies will always need to get their next hit of glow from somewhere and I'm the busiest dealer on the streets. Moreover, if I ever need money I got friends who owe me some favors. You don't ever need to worry about me. I can worry about myself and don't say that I can't worry about you then cause' I know that's what you wanna say. You are seventeen and still pretty naïve and there are a lot of ugly things out there that you might not be able to handle just yet. You don't need to provide for me, I provide for you."

An extremely awkward silence followed his last sentence. It took him a full minute to realize what he last said.

"Not that I'm uh…you know… we're just … I just mean… I'm gonna be here for you," he stated the last part resolutely, meaning it.

"You've only known me a week."

"That should creep you out more than me considering I'm living in your house."

"That's true," she smiled gently up at him, "So what's in the box? You put it on the mantle, is that for me too?"

"Actually I found it outside the door, it's addressed to me."

"Really? Aren't you going to open it?"

"I'm not sure what it is and you have to remember that in my line of business I make a few enemies. Just in case it's something… unpleasant," he let the word sink in, "I don't want you there when I open it. You understand why, right?"

"Yeah, I understand, I don't think I could handle it if it was a body part or something."

"Well, someone did send me a hand once."

"And…?"

"I waited until it decomposed to bones and threw the bones at people for kicks."

She looked at him disgustedly. He shrugged his shoulders.

"Anyways kid, I wanna go to my room and open that box. I'll tell you what it is after."

"Okay, I'll go heat up that pizza for you."

"Thanks."

They got up at the same time and headed downstairs. He rushed to the fireplace and grabbed the box up with both hands barely noticing the open-door-like crack on the left side of the fireplace. He made a subconscious mental note to check that out later. He jogged two steps at a time back up the stairs and then hurried down the hallway to his room. Once inside he sat down on his bed and set the box down next to him.

_Now to get this thing open, I really hope it doesn't blow up in my face._

He got up and took his jacket off the top of the dresser and fished around in one of the pockets until he found his leather sheathed hunting knife. It was the only blade he had. It was a gift from a friend from high school. He went back to the box and cut the tape off the top. He sheathed the knife again and opened the box.

"_It's a perfect representation of what a repo-man is, it'll suit you well."_

The black wolf mask stared at him with its blue x-ray shielded eyes. His mask was not uncommon among repo-men except that it bore an X shaped scar that he had cut into it when he'd quit repossessing organs for a living. Shilo couldn't know he'd received this. Moreover, why was all this repo-man stuff resurfacing right now?

_No, not resurfacing just getting in your head. Still, this is pretty big. I put this with Mom and Dad, and no one knows I did that. Who sent this?_

"Graverobber, did you get that box open yet?" Shilo called from the end of the hallway.

He opened his door and stuck his head out, "Yeah, it was a foot this time. I really need to figure out who keeps sending me these things."

She cringed and turned to go down the stairs but didn't proceed any further until after she told him to get rid of it. He pretended to be disappointed and went back into his room. He wasn't going to get rid of that mask until he knew where it came from, who it came from, and why it came. Unfortunately that was something he'd have to work on later. There was still night to burn and he only had about a thousand saved up. Who knew when he might need it or what he might need it for? He was just grateful that Amber had jacked up the price of zydrate as soon as she got hold of GeneCo, he had more customers than ever before. Amber Sweet was not a good businesswoman.

"Hey, kid, that pizza ready yet, I need to eat before I go back out there," he said as he walked into the kitchen.

"Yeah, it's ready," and sure enough there were four slices on a plate which sat on the counter next to the sink, "but do you have to go out tonight?"

"You're getting to be like a needy housewife, you know that?" He said as he ate his first slice of pizza.

"What's that supposed to mean? I just don't want to go to sleep without knowing there's someone else in the house. Y'know, just in case someone tries to break into the house or something."

"I'm going out tonight whether you like it or not, kid," she began to protest, "but I'll try to get home earlier than usual."

She looked about ready to cry which Graverobber wasn't sure he could deal with but she seemed to rein it in for the most part after a few seconds. She looked back up at him and smiled though it was forced, "Be careful."

He stood there a few more minutes eating then put his empty plate in the sink and walked up to her, put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly, "You'll be fine. No one will break in. You're safe here."

She looked him in the eyes, chocolate brown and innocent eyes that showed him the pain and brokenness she was trying to keep locked inside. He wanted to say or do something more for her but all he could do was sympathize and try and get her back on her feet. After that was done he wasn't sure what he'd do and some days the only thing that kept him with her was his promises. He made a point of not lying and a part of that was keeping his promises.

"_It looks like I may not make it Mattie. You have to promise that after I die you'll watch over her as best as you can."_

"Tomorrow we'll go grocery shopping, okay," he said instead, _Real reassuring, maybe next you'll take her to the mall for therapy._

"I really don't want to go out. Can't you do it on your own?" She pleaded.

"Not my house," he replied with a smirk.

"Then maybe it's not your room," she retorted but he knew she wasn't serious but she wasn't happy either.

"We'll talk about this tomorrow, I have to go before my customers get sick of waiting, and it's almost midnight. They can get a little impatient and they don't normally stay out past five in morning," he took a step back relinquishing his hold on her shoulder. _The fireplace! _, "Oh yeah, what's up with your fireplace, kid, it looks kinda like a door."

"I'm not sure. I know it's there, but I haven't been able to work up the courage to either close it or open it. It feels sort of ominous. I know that sounds crazy but I don't think I'll like what I find behind there. You can open it if you want to or close it which I would really prefer."

"I think I should open it, just in case, y'know."

"But, I think it might have been where my Dad-"

"Why would he keep it in the same house as you?" Graverobber interjected _Unless, of course, he moved it here. _"Maybe you should be in another room when I open it up anyway."

"No, I can handle it if it is what I think it is and if it isn't then it doesn't really matter either way."

"You sure? If he brought his work home with him…well, you really don't want to know the gory details of a repo-man's chosen vocation, trust me."

"Do you know what those gory details are?"

Instead of answering he went silent and turned his back on her and walked out into the living room. Stepping up to the fireplace he grabbed the side of the fireplace that looked like a door that had been cracked open slightly and pulled hard. The door, it was indeed a door of sorts, gave way revealing a room that looked something like a torture chamber. On the ground lay several gruesomely murdered GENcops and strapped to a dolly was a man lacking the organs that would normally be found in the abdomen. He heard whimpering behind him, he spun around to see Shilo standing behind him taking in the sight. The whimpering turned to squealing of some sort then outright screaming. He acted purely on instinct and closed the door to Nathan's personal house of horrors and quickly made his way to her and took her by the shoulders.

"Kid! Look at me! Kid? Listen, I know it's bad, I know, but you need to calm down."

Her hands gripped her head, her nails dug into her forehead and she began bleeding from the cuts she made, the digging went unhampered by any pain she might have felt. He took his hands off her shoulders and pried her hands off her head. He held her wrists in his hands, twist and turn as she might she couldn't shake his powerful grip. The screaming was even worse than the night she'd stumbled across him hours after the Genetic Opera, after the newspapers had said she was missing, they still thought she was missing for that matter. That screaming had been intermittent then and had calmed down to whining by the time he'd got her home. This was one long, loud wail that ripped from her soul, a feeling he was intimate and familiar with. Her voice went hoarse after five minutes or so and she switched to sobbing quietly and whispering things. "I shoulda stayed inside, I shoulda stayed inside…" became her mantra. After many more minutes of this she grew quiet, Graverobber was hopeful at first until he saw the blank look in her eyes as she stared through him not at him. He supposed then was his turn to start panicking and freak out, after all Shilo had just gone catatonic on him


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Almost uploaded this without the author's note, the theme of this chapter is clearly "Chase the Morning" from Repo! Sarah Brightman has the most amazing voice. Another chapter set in the past because I want to put you in suspense for what's going to happen with Shilo. You don't get to find out till chapter seven. Chapter six might be up tonight, this story is really turning out long but I hope that's not something you guys mind. I'm thinking of doing a Christmas interlude that'll be tacked onto chapter six but I don't have an idea of what to write. I'd only have today, tomorrow, and Christmas Eve to write it but it could be good. I think I'll do it. Yes, yes I will. I'll get started right away but just in case I'm not able to complete it by Christmas I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy **Chanukah (I'm not sure if it just started or is already over or what but there you go), or whatever the heck you celebrate so long as you're happy. Read and REVIEW, I'm getting paranoid which makes me sick to my stomach which makes me not want to write this, I seriously want to hear from you guys. I'll keep writing for you faithful few reviewers because you deserve to see the end of this story but shame on all of you who are interested in and are reading this story and are not even ******anonymously reviewing. Just say something like "hey, this is good, keep it up" and I'd feel a lot better. I mean, are you upset about chapter 4, seriously things will get better. I'm working in more action as we speak but you have to remember that these things have to flow and right now I'm setting the stage for things to come. I'm sorry. You see what happens when you don't tell me what you think, I get all tied in knots and start ranting at you. Sorry ): Anyway, now I'm upset, enjoy the chapter and if you didn't read my rant then I'll just say FOR THE LOVE OF PETE REVIEW (I DON'T EVEN KNOW SOMEONE NAMED PETE). Enjoy :) 3**

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><p>Chapter 5: Chase the Morning<p>

_Ms. Marni was his own personal sage and he learned much from her even when they first met…_

"Matthew, is your name Matthew? Can I talk to you? Can you come here, please, so we can speak?"

He walked over to the woman with long black hair and kind brown eyes slowly. The doctors had told him that he needed to move around more to build up his strength. His one leg still felt weaker than the other and his ribs were painfully sore. This was strange, though, Ms. Marni was usually with Mr. Largo when he came to check on Nathan who had been spending the most time with him but she had come on her own this time and Nathan had not come at all. She was a quiet presence in his daily routine. She hardly ever looked at him, barely acknowledged his existence, and overlooked him many times as her wedding planning had interrupted things Mr. Largo had wanted to smooth out about life in the Largo household for him. He'd come to consider her emotional flip flops simply part of who she was. One moment she was being all considerate of him by convincing Nathan and Rotti to leave as he was growing tired and another moment she'd be complaining about Rotti taking too long and flower arrangements. Always with the flower arrangements, like they were her life or something. In a nutshell, he wasn't particularly fond of the woman but he didn't hate her. She was just an enigma and he hated trying to figure people out, he just wanted them to be them. In that respect all three of them were frustrating. He knew he was a special case and that Mr. Largo had to take care lest his public image be tarnished by the catastrophe that was his parents deaths but the least he could do was act real around him. Nathan wasn't always honest and Matthew bundled that with masks in his mind but Nathan made up for it by being one of those rare individuals whose personality was completely balanced. Rotti Largo, however, wore so many different masks in one hour that it spun his head. His own masks were something he didn't want to ponder on for too long as it frustrated him to not be real around other people now. Then there was Miss. Marni who wore a mask that seemed like a barrier she was using to protect herself but from what he didn't know.

Onto the matter at hand, "Is there something you want Miss. Marni?"

"I um well you see the other day I was talking to Rotti, about you moving in and lately I've been hearing his kids talking and well…well…"

"You're not making sense, what are you trying to tell me?"

"They, his kids, seem less than eager to have you move in. You've been through a lot and I'd hate to see things made worse by those dreadful children of his."

"Aren't you going to be their step-mom soon?"

"Heaven help me, I am. They are little demons, all three of them," she sighs and for just a moment, a split second in time, he sees Marni without her mask and she is nearly broken past repair but it doesn't last long, "I've been talking about it with Dr. Wallace actually and after much consideration and much rearranging of his life as it is he believes he may be able to take you into his home within the next month after all. You must understand that his initial reluctance and misgivings were borne merely from his lack of experience with children. We agreed that since I am with copious amounts of free time and he is without such luxury, not to mention I was the beloved baby sitter of five children when I was a teenager, I will watch over you when he is not able. Would you prefer this instead of living with those hellions Rotti dares call children who are already set against you."

He stood with his mouth agape for a few seconds before her lecture had sunk into his brain and processed, "Uh…when you put it like that…yeah that sounds good."

"Fantastic! So how have you been doing? The doctors say you need to keep up your strength."

_Uh-oh, full fledged nanny mode, maybe I should run away while I can. _Aloud he laughed at his own thoughts.

"Did I say something?"

"No, but thanks, and the doctors say I'll be able to leave in a week, so I guess I'm getting better."

"Health wise I'd have to agree with your doctors but how are you emotionally?"

The floor was suddenly of great interest to him as he ran a hand through his short brunette hair. He really didn't want to talk about how he was emotionally because he was pretty sure it wasn't good. He was having a nightmare that seemed never ending, he was alone, very afraid, and had no one to cling to. He was only eleven. That thought kept coming back to him every time he tried to act like nothing was wrong.

"Um… can we talk later I'd really like to get some sleep."

"Sure hon', we'll talk some more later."

She ruffled his hair fondly and walked out of the room. Once the door was closed behind her Matthew stretched his arms above his head and yawned. He carefully walked over to his bed and lay down. It didn't take him long to fall asleep, he seemed to always be tired anymore. Sleep swallowed him like oblivion personified and he was more than happy to be its meal…

_A haze surrounded him, it was oppressive and dark. He heard his parents' words from the past as things took shape. _

"_Unnecessary surgery is what it is. If you don't need it then don't get it," his father admonished._

"_Mattie, you'll be told a lot of things that are the opposite of what we're teaching you but I want you to promise me you'll never listen to those other people ever again," his mother begged after he asked her if he could get new eyes. Now that he thought about it he hadn't really wanted them and he knew he didn't need them. _

_They were in their car now and they were listening to the radio, the GeneCo jingle was playing during a commercial break. _The dream is more like reviling the experience now rather than remembering it._ A man runs out in front of the car, everything spins. He's in a cemetery, gravestones are surrounding him as though they're about to pounce. He hears the ground crunching under someone's feet. He looks up to see who it is and gasps in shock. It is his mother. The broken, white bone of her arm has pierced the flesh and juts out. She walks on one leg and drags the other mangled one behind her, the leg is virtually unrecognizable, little more than goo really. Her face, severely lacerated, remains stoic and she is splattered in blood from head to toe._

"_I guess," she says in an echoing monotone voice, "that I should have worn my seatbelt. You'll always wear your seatbelt, won't you? You always did before."_

"_Y-yeah, I'll always wear my seatbelt. Isn't that kinda less important than that you're a zombie?"_

_She laughs but it has no life in it, it's more like a "huh huh uhuh" and she reaches out her good arm to him._

"_No I'm not. This is what I've always looked like sweetie."_

"_No, you're dead Mom. I'm not in denial like that psychologist says I am. I'm just in pain. You're dead Mom, and I'm sorry but that's the truth," he begins to cry, "I miss you both but you _are_ dead. You're both dead and in your graves!"_

"_No no, silly, we're alive and well. This is how we've always been."_

"_No you're in your graves!" He was becoming hysterical as panic took over, "In your graves! In your graves! Your graves! Graves!"_

"_Gra_ves!"

"Matthew! Matthew are you alright?"

Miss Marni looked down at him concernedly. Her hands grasped firmly onto his shoulders and she looked frightened.

"What happened?"

"You were having a bad nightmare. Will you be alright? Do you want me to stay with you for a while?"

He looked at her pale face that was partially shrouded in shadows and nodded in affirmation. She released his shoulders, got up, and pulled a chair up to his bedside.

"What are you doing here…" he looked at the clock on nightstand, "at nine at night when you were already here in the afternoon?"

"The doctors called the house and said you were screaming in your sleep again and that it may be a good idea if someone came down here to keep an eye on you. I volunteered myself. We got here at record speed. It only took three minutes for my driver to get me here."

"Thank you," and he was genuinely grateful.

She watched him and he turned away and closed his eyes in attempt to get to sleep again. After much tossing and turning he sat up with a huff. He looked to Miss Marni who gazed at him sympathetically.

"Maybe you just need to get something off your chest?"

His lower lip trembled but he didn't notice, "Yeah, I think I might. See, I'm kinda having trouble with this. When I was five my dad got repo-ed right in front of my Mom. It really messed her up an-"

"Wait. You said you dad was repo-ed but didn't he die in the crash?"

"Huh? Oh no, that was my step-dad but I liked him alright. I kno- er knew him better than my real Dad, he was never around much. Like I was sayin', she decided to join a purist group, they're a bunch of people who swear they'll either never have another surgery or never have surgery that is unnecessary ever. I figured that was only right all things considered and up till now I always thought repossessing people's organs was wrong but now I'm not so sure."

"Well, hon' you're at an impasse in your life with only two ways out. I know the feeling. You can choose to hang on to your old belief or you can decide that repossessions aren't wrong."

"I need to think. What did you mean by knowing the feeling?" He looked her directly in the eyes as he asked.

She heaved a sigh, "I'm at an impasse too, with Rotti. It's more than just those little devil children of his it's also that he isn't always honest with me, he can be controlling and possessive, and I'm beginning to question not only his love for me but my love for him. I want to stay with him but I don't know if I'm ready to marry him."

"So you're gonna call off the wedding."

"No, I want to call off the engagement altogether and just go back to dating him. I think it'd be good for us. It might let us discover new people who are better for us. My other option is to try and fix what's broken without doing all that but then I'll still feel tied down to Rotti. I'm not sure which to choose but I know I have to choose soon."

"Those aren't very good choices."

"I know. So you and I will simply have to do what my friend Mag always say to, chase the morning. I think that means that we have to keep hoping for a better day no matter what."

"You're right. What is it again…? Oh yeah,

_Chase the morning_

_Yield for nothing _

"Not bad. Think you can sleep now?"

"Yeah, I think so. You don't have to stay. Thank you, by the way."

"We've all been in the spot you're in right now even if we don't choose to acknowledge it. I'll let you sleep."

She slipped out of the room as quietly as she was able as he lay back down. He was asleep in a matter of minutes due to many nights spent wide awake. The next morning when he woke up he was grateful to find he couldn't remember what he dreamt the night previous.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE :) I hope you have a nice Christmas too. Anyway, I present with no further ado Chapter 6 whose theme is "Innocent" by Stellar Kart and a special treat **

**DRUMROLL PLEASE! **

**A REPO! CHRISTMAS**

**Yay! It's short but I think it's one of my best yet. Actually it's kinda gory and not very Christmas-y but it has a good (by that I mean blatant) Christmas message to it among the mystery (well, it's not a very good mystery but you do spend a couple minutes asking whodunit), drama, and gore. This is also the longest chapter because of the interlude but I hope that doesn't bother you too much. BTW, The Wolf, Matthew, and Graverobber are all one in the same. It'll all comes back to the masks thing from chapter five which I'll go into more detail later. **

**ENJOY! :) READ and REVIEW :) **

***runs around the house screaming***

**!**

**I love it!**

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><p>Chapter 6: Innocent<p>

The dumpster was his preferred home to the palace Shilo lived in. His place of comfort was the darkness of a back alley rather than a plush room. But this was a life he couldn't ask her to live. She had her place and it was one that was not his anymore. He hadn't liked being chained down by a permanent residence even when he was young and had often sojourned to his friends homes rather than stay in Nathan's apartment all the time. He had had no intention of being some domesticated stay at home wife and nurse for Shilo and she had no right to expect that of him. He was an untamed person who watched, with more amusement than any TV show could provide, the slow decent of kings and queens. Amber Sweet was one such queen that he'd watched for quite awhile as she slowly spiraled down until she was little more than a shadow of her former self, not that she was any better when she was a Largo, he was expecting a visit from her soon.

"Hey Graverobber, what're you doin' out of you castle?"

He looked up to see Indigo's head right above him as she peered down into his current place of rest.

"The kid…I don't think I can deal with her right now. I don't know what to do."

"Whaddaya mean Graverobber?" asked the familiar nasally voice of Jo who was now looking down at him with Indigo.

"I mean that I'm not used to taking care of someone other than myself."

"So you just ran out on yer girl like a scared dog with 'is tail between his legs," it was a statement.

"Yes Jo, that's exactly what I did. I'm a coward! There, are you happy?"

"I'm sad, actually," She looked off into the distance calmly, "I'm sad because you could do good by that girl but you're too much of a coward to. It's like Amber Sweet tells you every time she's down here. Man up!" Her face contorted to a look of pure disgust and she looked back down at him, Graverobber could tell she was about to go off, "I mean, come on, you're a married man with a kid on the way, you can't hold a job, and you only have that tiny apartment you live in which you're barely holding on to as it is!"

"No he isn't, Jo," Indigo corrected.

"Oh right, that was my ex-husband. Then he married some rich cougar and took full custody of our kid and then put her up for adoption."

"That didn't happen to you either, Jo," Graverobber said calmly.

"Oh right! That happened to March on 'The 29 Days of Sorrow' my favorite soap opera."

Graverobber got to his feet and Jo and Indigo backed up to allow him to get out of the dumpster. His feet hit the pavement and sent pain shooting up his legs. He walked over to a nearby fire with the two women trailing behind him.

"Hey, anyone got tonight's news paper?"

"You were sittin' on it," said Indigo has she snatched it up from the dumpster and handed it to him.

"Thank you," he wanted to scan the headlines for something worth reading however when he opened the crinkled pages he saw in big bold print, AMBER SWEET ANOUNCES NEW ZYDRATE FORMULAE IN THE DEVELOPING STAGES: PROMISES IT'S LESS ADDICTIVE, "First business spikes to an all time high this past week because she keeps upping the price of Z, which was already expensive, and now she wants to develop something less addictive so we aren't getting any new clients. You wanna bet she's trying to run the zydrate dealing biz into the ground just to upset me."

"I think she's trying to make herself look good to the press," Indigo laughed.

"I think she's trying to send a message to someone," Jo said pointedly.

"To me, more than likely," said Graverobber solemnly.

"Why?" Asked Jo

"Cause I have her daddy's will," a fact which he needed them to be aware of just in case something happened to him, but he didn't have to say that to them, "I snuck into the opera house and snagged it, I had figured the kid would find her way home not back to me."

"So did he really will GeneCo, all of it, to your girl?" Indigo asked for she was incredulous at the idea.

"Yep," he wasn't up for arguing his relationship with Shilo.

"So she's loaded?" Jo asked with a glint in her eyes.

"Not officially, Rotti never signed the document that would have willed it all to her. A lawyer could argue that it's still Rotti's last will and testament and that it says GeneCo goes to the kid but the fact that he didn't sign it makes that a moot point. Besides, the way she is right now, you should see her sitting there, she catatonic. That reminds me, thanks for giving Myrna some time off to watch the kid. I needed to get away for awhile."

"I didn't, I don't approve of you walking out on her, but she gave me a stick so I couldn't argue when she said she was babysitting the Opera Girl."

Graverobber was not about to ask why giving Jo a stick kept her from arguing. Heels clicking on the cement could be heard from a distance and the trio briefly looked, as people are wont to when they hear a sound heading their way, and saw Amber Sweet and her escorts making a beeline for them.

"Whatever she wants Mattie, just remember you're a married man."

"But I'm not, Jo, so if Miss Sweet wants to pay me in her preferred form I'm not going to say no."

"Pathetic."

Indigo merely shook her head at him as though to say "typical of you".

"There you are!"

"Ya know, I really need to get back to the shop, you wanna come with Indi?"

"Yeah, sure, see you later Graverobber."

Both women hurried out of the alley at a quick pace in hopes of avoiding the spoiled princess who was likely to tear Graverobber to bits if she didn't get her way. Amber shoved him into a wall the minute she got to him.

"What can I do for you Miss Sweet?" He asked sweetly, a little too sweetly for a very irritated Miss Sweet.

"You can give me Daddy's will!"

"Don't have it, sorry."

"Liar!"

"I never lie, check my pockets, I don't have it," he looked down at her, into her eyes, and let some of the repo-man, second only to the head repo-man, through and spoke dangerously low, "with me, that is."

"Then you can at least tell me if you've heard anything about Shilo Wallace," he knew the will was a subject she wouldn't drop easily so the change of subject threw him for a second.

"She's disappeared, like the news says, I even checked her house." That was more of a half-truth.

She growled in frustration, "I WANT THAT WILL!"

"What for, it isn't like he signed it."

"He did! Now, I know you're lying to me, so if you don't want me to make your life a living nightmare than give me that will!"

"No."

She lost her unsteady grip on her temper then and there and punched him in the jaw. That, she should have known by now, was precarious ground to be walking on. The truth of the matter was that he'd gone through a period of his life when he was quick tempered and retaliated violently to anything that set that temper off. It was one emotional battering after another that had made him like that, angry, by his second year of high school. Repossessions had allowed an outlet but taming himself had been a hard and long process that began when he was twenty. He still didn't have full control of the monster a decade after committing to rid himself of The Wolf. He didn't turn his face back to her for several seconds and when he did he knew by the look in her eyes that she was aware that she'd just dodged a bullet. She turned on her heels and left him a little too hurriedly not to be frightened. He remembered a time when things were not so tense between them, when they were friends and then some. He knew her when she was Carmella, a name like that was so much more beautiful on her than the one she currently claimed, and she'd been in love with him since they were teenagers. He'd always been sorry he couldn't return the feelings, not for a lack of trying either, but Carmella Largo was a hard person to love mostly due to an absence of redeeming qualities in her personality. Those qualities had been harshly shoved and fiercely lectured right out of her by Rotti Largo's third wife, a merciless woman who wanted to live her unfulfilled dreams through her unwilling daughter and thought the only way to make it to the top was to purge all humanity from one's self. Carmella had had dreams of her own once but now all that lay in store for her was GeneCo, maybe not even that if there was a signed will somewhere in existence. She was teetering on the edge and when she fell off that edge, then the world would be ready for the change people like Nathan and Blind Mag had desired. He hoped she'd go quickly. The world needed more people like Shilo would be if- no, after she worked through her grief and pain. She'd be a woman who knew the world was cruel but was innocent enough to see a light at the end of the tunnel. There weren't enough innocent people in the world. At one point in his life he might have viewed innocence as a weakness, a sign of an overly sheltered person who couldn't possibly operate in society. He'd had time to think these musing over, however, for a little over ten years and he'd come to know innocence as having two separate definitions that varied greatly. One was what he'd once thought it solely to be and the other was the one Shilo would hopefully come to embody. That innocence was the ability to see the pain, suffering and ugly in the world and not join in on it but rather it was letting it inspire you to do something about it to make things better, after all, an innocent person wouldn't be able to stand there and see suffering and pain and say, "that's the norm" because to them it wouldn't be the norm at all. But all that was dependent on whether or not Shilo got better. He should be with her.

"Is she gone?" A gravelly voice behind him asked. He hadn't realized he'd turned to watch Carm- Amber go and hadn't heard anyone walking up to him but he knew who this was anyway.

"Yeah, she's gone, and hopefully she'll stay gone too."

He turned to face a fellow zydrate dealer whom he'd befriended when he first began dealing. His name was Kell, which was short for something but Graverobber didn't know what. He was a big burly man with tan skin that was not his own, his long black hair was in a braid, and he was as addicted to surgery as his own product but he was easy going and always made an interesting conversationalist. Those redemptive qualities made him one of the few dealers on the streets that Graverobber was actually friendly to and friendly with.

"So I hear someone been shacking up with some rich girl. You ain't stayin' with her cause' you got her pregnant or somethin', are you?"

_What's with people thinking… or in Jo's case, deluding that Shilo is pregnant. I hope it isn't a sign or something. _"No, and even if I did I don't think that's anything you need to be included in."

"That mean I ain't the god-dad of your kid when she has im'?" Kell asked with a faux sad look on his face.

"She's not pregnant, at seventeen she's a kid herself," _A kid who's going through a lot more than any kid should._

"She's seventeen which means she's old enough to get pregnant, physically of course," said Kell as though Graverobber was not aware of this fact, "When's the due date?"

"You're doing this to get me upset, aren't you?"

"You gonna tie the knot afterwards?" Kell smiled broadly at Graverobber.

"I really hate you Kell," grumbled Graverobber.

"I think you should name him after me, don't you?"

"What do you want from me Kell!"

"I wanted to let you know some jerk's been lookin' for ya out there. I think he's out to get you in a bad way, man."

"He wants me dead, huh? I can deal with that."

"Yeah, I know, we all know after what you did to Spade. Man, you mess him so bad he have to eat outta tube for the rest of his life, did you hear that part? Anyway man, Imma send a couple of my friends over to watch that castle of yours so your girl and your kid is safe."

"She isn't pregnant."

"I know that man, I been spreadin' it around that she's pregnant cause' as much as this guy looked like he wanted you dead I don't think he wanted to get anyone else involved in it. If you in your castle with the soon-to-be mother of your child then you just a little bit safer. You can thank me later. Jus' be careful, k'. I gotta go, got me some customers waitin' down a couple blocks, I'll see you around…hopefully," Kell turned and jogged down the alley and out of sight.

So, someone wanted him dead. It wouldn't be the first time but Kell did seem afraid for him. Could it have something to do with the man who was asking about him at Jo's, he had assumed that the man was one of Amber's hit men but maybe there was something more to what was going on than he thought. If Amber had sent a hit man out to kill him she'd have had no qualms about telling him when she was asking where the will was. He'd have to watch his back but he had to admit that Kell's plan was a stroke of genius… he hoped.

* * *

><p>Interlude: A Repo Christmas<p>

The freezing wind blew on The Wolf, a seventeen year old with a burden on his back. The cold burned his skin with its bite. Repossession missions always picked up around the holidays. People were far to busy with their stupid little families to remember they had organs to pay for. It was the one thing industrialization hadn't entirely strangled to death, families. He watched from the far end of the alley as a man walked out of a store with a bag in his hand. No doubt a gift for some loved one, money wasted that he could have used to save his life. The whole situation was made that much sadder by that fact that this man, Danil Charnell, had only one more payment to go to pay all his new organs off. The Wolf switched on the x-rays built into the blue tinted shields over his eyes. The kidney, liver, and stomach were his targets. He walked slowly, noiselessly to the area where the alley let out to the sidewalk. Just as he was about to make his move a woman and a young girl, maybe ten years old, rushed up to the man in panic.

"Danil," she cried, "I just got a notice from GeneCo, you're ninety days delinquent on your organ payments, and they're sending a repo-man after you."

"But I just sent my last payment, they even sent me a notice that they received it, I have it in my wallet."

_That couldn't be, GeneCo has never messed up stuff like this before,_ But lo and behold the man drew from his wallet a notice of final payment from his wallet, he didn't even have to unfold it for The Wolf to know that was exactly what it was. Danil, his target, was a detective with the 96th precinct. Maybe his detecting skills could shed some light on The Wolf's present situation. He walked across the road, taking off his wolf mask as he did so, to the sidewalk where Danil and his wife and child stood.

"Good evening Mr. Charnell, I was here to repossess your kidney, liver, and heart," not the greatest introduction but it would do.

Danil immediately drew his gun but The Wolf didn't even blink, instead he kept his expression stoic and blank, "Look, this is all a big misunderstanding, look here at this notice of final payment, I payed!"

"Calm down Mr. Charnell, I already know this," he pulled the folded up transparent sheet from his breast pocket that listed his target, Danil, and what he was supposed to take from him, "It would seem that there is some sort of misunderstanding going on here. I believe we can sort this problem out. Do you have any idea how this might have occurred?"

"No," and for the first time Danil really looked at the repo-man, more like repo-boy. He was about seventeen, had shoulder length brown hair, and was dressed in all black.

"Hmm, I shall go to my higher ups about this. Good evening Mr. Charnell."

* * *

><p>When he returned to the "office", really where targets were gutted in convenient privacy with many a tool available, Matthew could here the screams and begging and pleading of a woman. At first he thought she was just screaming the usual mantra of "I can pay" but as her words became clearer as he walked further into the room he could hear her screaming "I payed" instead. He ran quickly to where the dolly that she was no doubt strapped to was set up. Nathan was just about to cut into her, he enjoyed pettily tormenting them going on about his thankless job beforehand, it had probably saved her life.<p>

"Wait, Nathan don't!"

"What is it Wolf," he growled.

"She's saying that she payed, have you checked her pockets or wallet or anywhere else a notice of final payment might be, how about her purse?"

Nathan pulled off his mask at looked at him skeptically.

"I'm serious," Matthew said to get his point across.

"Alright," the head repo-man conceded and walked over to a metal table where the target's personal belongings sat. He took her purse off the table and began to rummage through it. After several seconds he drew out the distinctive black sheet with white print and the GeneCo logo printed in gold on top. A notice of final payment, Nathan asked in his normal voice, "How?"

"I think we need to talk to Mr. Largo about this."

"I think your right. Call Shi's baby sitter. Tell her I won't be home until late tonight and be sure to mention I'll pay her extra. I'll call Rotti while you do that."

* * *

><p>Rotti had no clue what was going on, to Matthew that seemed impossible but it was true. For once he was not being lied to by the business mogul. That begged the question, many questions actually, the most prominent being, "How?"<p>

"I wish I knew Matthew, I will have this investigated immediately."

"What about out targets?" Nathan asked, "How will we know if they're really supposed to have their organs repossessed or not?"

"This could easily lead to a wrongful death suit. I suppose activity will just have to be suspended until this mystery is solved. I'll call in the others."

There were three other repo-men who operated on Crucifixus. Their aliases were Fox, Cowboy, Doc, and Poppet. With luck they hadn't repo-ed anyone who had payed off their organs already.

* * *

><p>Two people who'd payed off their organs had been repo-ed. The families would be financially compensated by GeneCo. It was the night before Christmas Eve and Matthew felt truly bad for the families that would be mourning a loss rather than celebrating. Sure he thought the whole thing was stupid, it wasn't about anything more than getting gifts and giving gifts and being greedy and spending more than you should and it was stupid. But to them it meant something. He especially felt for their kids. He also noticed a pattern in the targets. There were only fifteen scheduled for the twenty-second to the twenty-fifth and <em>most<em> of them were fairly well to do people. A detective, a judge, a lawyer, a doctor, a gourmet chef, a highly successful florist, a curator from the downtown museum, a musician in the Crucifixus Orchestra, a fashion designer, an interior decorator, a factory owner, an insurance company executive, a model, a single mom, and a mechanic. While some of their jobs may have caused them to cross paths with people with similar vocations to their fellows, maybe even to cross paths with each other, it was clear that not a one really knew the other. The repo-men had been put in charge of uncovering the truth of what was happening when it was discovered that all fifteen had been given notices of final payment. The insurance executive and the single mom had not survived the error.

* * *

><p>They'd found out. He wasn't sure how they'd found out that the fifteen targets that he'd set for them had payed off their organs but at least two were dead, he might have to finish this off himself. Bothersome as that would be at least justice would be done. Cornelia would be avenged.<p>

* * *

><p>Amy Evans had been a model for three years, she was pretty and young and made lots of money. Enough that she could afford some surgeries that drastically altered her appearance. Her nose was not her nose, her eyes were not her eyes, and her long legs were not her legs. She was one of the top models in the biz and even in death she still looked beautiful. Detective Danil Charnell closely inspected the scene around him and the body before him for evidence. A tap on the shoulder caused him to turn around. He was face to face with the repo-boy from last night.<p>

"Has GeneCo figured out what happened?" Danil asked right away.

"Not yet, but she was one of the false targets. I think there's more to this than simple computer error."

"An astute statement, I didn't catch your name last night."

"You can call me Wolf."

"Wolf? Well, Wolf, I'm afraid this is out of your hands. Now run on back to high school."

"I'm on vacation Mr. Charnell. Moreover your captain has been informed that I'll be joining this investigation as an expert consultant."

"An expert consultant of what, back talk and tuning people out, you can't be more than seventeen. What can a seventeen year old do?"

"Think of it this way Mr. Charnell," he said, his stoic mask cracking briefly into a smile, "it's better than forty. Besides, I am an expert in something, death."

This teenaged boy frightened him. What sort of parents would let their child repo people's organs? No parents would, whoever this scary kid was, he was an orphan.

"I have some ideas Mr. Charnell, are you willing to listen?"

"Sure."

* * *

><p>"So, what're you doing for Christmas, Wolf?"<p>

"Sleeping, I'll sleep the whole day away if I can. I hate the holidays."

They were walking down a side walk together. The twenty-third and twenty-fourth of December had seen four more of the fifteen killed. The judge, the lawyer, the doctor, and the florist, all killed in brutal methods. But now they were close, whoever their murderer was he was sloppy. The last murder had left them with enough DNA to run through ID. They'd gotten a hit. It was Danil's knowledge of the man that had really solved the whole thing though. James Kane, a computer expert who worked for GeneCo. His wife had been put on trial for murder and found guilty, she'd been executed. This had happened three years ago and had been mostly forgotten by the general public. Kane had apparently devised a way to kill the judge, her lawyer, the detective who'd solved the case and the jury by sending his boss's repo-men after them. When his plot had been discovered he'd had little choice but to do the deed himself. He'd been unfortunately successful. Danil and Matthew had been watching the house, taking a walk around the block every now and again to throw suspicion off them.

"Why?"

"It's stupid. What's the point?"

"Well, wh- Look," Danil said pointing to Kane's apartment complex. A man, James Kane, was entering, "Kane's entering his residence. I'll radio it to the other officers, you shadow him."

"Fine, meet up with me?"

"Yeah sure, now go!"

The Wolf followed Kane up the stairs and to his apartment, Kane had entered the apartment just seconds before Wolf had reached it. He heard footsteps behind him and turned to see Danil jogging up the stairs with ten officers behind him.

"Is he in his apartment?" Danil whispered.

"Just went in."

"Okay guys," he said to the others behind him, "we want to make this quick and easy with minimal bloodshed. You better be up for this cause' we don't know exactly what's behind that door." Danil walked in front of Wolf with his gun drawn. The Wolf drew his scalpel just in case. Danil knocked on the door and said, "CPD, open up!"

A feminine scream was heard.

"Please tell me that was Kane," commented Matthew.

"Sir," said one of the officers then rushed his last sentence, "Captain just radioed, the interior decorator was seen being dragged out of her home last night by one of the neighbors. They'd been too scared to call it in until now."

Without further ado Wolf, his mask now on, pushed Danil aside and kicked in the door, "Wanna come on out and play with The Wolf, Kane, I like to play with my food before I eat it!" He yelled the last two words of his sentence breaking his otherwise unenthusiastic and monotone sentence. Danil's mind quickly said "scare tactic" before officers, with him in the lead, poured into the tiny apartment. Kane came running out of one of the side rooms with a gun to the head of the woman who could only be the interior decorator.

"Let her go, Kane!" Commanded Danil with his gun trained on the mad man's head.

"HELP ME!" She screamed.

"Now Kane, is it really going to make you happy, to kill her?" Wolf asked then said, "She's an innocent woman."

"INNOCENT!" He screamed, he was livid, "She and all those other people murdered my wife, Cornelia, she deserves to DIE!"

"Your wife committed a crime. You have to recognize that, she payed for that crime with her life. You must move on."

"You don't understand! How could you? You're just a kid. They executed her on Christmas day! I begged them not to. I wanted the kids to have a chance to spend one last Christmas with their mama, even if it was only for an hour or two. But no! How could they do that to my poor kids, then they said I was an unfit father and took them away to foster care. But I didn't do anything! Molly hurt herself when she fell down the stairs. That teacher didn't even ask her how it happened she just called Child Protection Services and they had both my daughter and son removed. How was that fair to them only a month after their mom was murdered by these beasts! I just wanted one last Christmas together!"

"So now they have to die?" Asked Danil, with his gun still trained on Kane's head.

"Yes," he replied and before anyone could react he shot the woman in the head. Everything after that happened so fast that very few officers could recount what the repo-boy had done with entire clarity. Kane began shooting madly at the officers after dropping the woman's lifeless body to the ground. The Wolf heard a couple officers scream. Instinctively he looked beside him and saw that Danil was on the ground screaming in pain as blood poured out of his shoulder quickly. Enraged, for a reason he couldn't quite place, Wolf rushed Kane and had him on the floor in an instant. He didn't even bother to slit his throat. He kneeled on Kane's thighs to pin him down and with precision he cut through skin, tossed it aside. He cut through layers of fat and muscle. He tossed aside the organs he had no interest in until he was able to get to the heart. With his bare hands, he had forgone his gloves that day, he ripped the man's heart out. He felt an instant calm upon its extraction and the suddenly blank look on the man's face. He was breathing heavily from the exertion and could feel his own heart thumping against his chest. He looked down at the heart hatefully. With little thought he crushed in his hand then threw it aside. The room had gone mostly silent except for Danil's ragged breathing.

"Did you call an ambulance?" The Wolf asked no particular officer behind him.

"Yeah," replied one in deadpan.

He got up and walked over to Danil and kneeled beside his hunched over, shaking frame.

"Why'd you do that?" Danil asked in an accusatory manner.

"Because he already lost everything, I figured why not put him out of his misery."

"That's a lie. You can tell me the truth later," Danil sighed heavily and looked up at him, "So back to our conversation from before while we wait for the ambulance, does that sound good to you? So, why is Christmas stupid?"

"It just is, very stupid."

"Well, when you have time to think about it you may realize that it isn't about getting or giving, it's about family. With them by your side it doesn't matter if you tree is ten feet tall and has designer ornaments or if it's one foot tall and has plastic ornaments you bought for a dollar at a convenience store. It doesn't matter if there's one present for everybody or ten for everybody and stockings filled with stocking stuffers too so long as you got your family with you. Maybe not even your biological family. It may be your surrogate family or a friend's family. Maybe it's just you and your boyfriend or girlfriend. So long as it's you together at Christmas none of it matters. So what if you can't decorate a tree and someone starts yelling at you for it, be understanding, the holidays are stressful and sometimes depressing. Who cares if after you've spent three hours decorating your tree to make it look perfect someone up and knocks it down, just put it up again. Family, being together, loving each other, that's what it's about. Well, there's a little more but that's a story for another day. What I'm trying to say is that you can understand why he was so distraught if you know what Christmas is really about. It must've broken his heart. Sometimes a broken heart can make people a little crazy."

Wolf didn't respond. Instead, he sat their musing on what the detective had said and briefly thinking it sounded terribly rehearsed until he considered it was a speech he gave to many troubled youths.

"Sir, the ambulance has arrived and the paramedics are coming up. Forensics is on their way too," said an officer.

Wolf breathed a sigh of relief

* * *

><p>In the end, Danil fully recovered from his injuries, the children who were orphaned by Kane's murders were put with good families and Nathan spent some of Christmas night with Shilo. Matthew learned a little about Christmas too and he put that knowledge to use when Nathan was sent after a target, Matthew offered to read some Christmas stories to Shilo. He never spent more than a couple minutes with his only family so the change of pace that Christmas night before her bedtime was good for him, he'd only regret later that she was too young to remember him when he found her chasing after a bug in his favorite graveyard thirteen years later.<p> 


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Wow, I can't believe I finished this so fast! It's pretty good too, at least I think so. I'm not even sure if anyone is really interested in this story anymore except for a few but I'll keep writing. This story is shaping up to be pretty long but I can't really predict the number of chapters. Things get a little weird in this chapter but if you read it through to the end I think you'll find it interesting. The theme of this song is "Stand in the Rain" by Superchic(k). **

**To: The Nobody Prince- Sorry I didn't reply to your review but there was no reply link and I'm really bad with computers (I know fifth graders who know more about computers than I do) so I couldn't think of an alternative way to reply other than this. Thanks for the review and I'm glad you liked the Christmas interlude, it's the goriest thing I've written to date and it wasn't even _that_ gory but I'm glad you liked it. Actually for all I know you're the only one reading this story but I'm more than happy to keep writing even if it is just for you. Thanks again for the review. **

**READ AND REVIEW, as any responsible should if they like a story enough to keep up with it and it's my New Year's resolution to do just that myself, com to think of it EVEN SHY OLE ME ISN'T THIS BAD ABOUT R&R-ing pre-resolution like whoever is still reading this story is. **

**Most of all, though, ENJOY :)**

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><p>Chapter 7: Stand in the Rain<p>

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><p><em>So stand in the rain<em>

_Stand your ground_

_Stand up when it's all crashing down_

_You stand through the pain_

_You won't drown_

_And one day, what's lost can be found_

_You stand in the rain…_

* * *

><p>Home, Graverobber wasn't sure when he'd started calling Shilo's house home but after Kell left him he knew he needed to head <em>home<em> and see if Shilo was any better. He knew he'd made all the money he could that night. Usually after a visit from Amber Sweet that resulted in a fight between herself and Graverobber people cleared out of his territory which really served to upset him. On his walk back home he kept wondering who would want him dead but would make it clear he didn't want to get anyone else involved in his attempts to kill the Z peddler. There were plenty of people who wanted The Wolf dead, he'd ripped apart a lot of families but few knew the face behind the mask. There were also a lot of people who wanted The Graverobber dead but none of them were likely to care whether or not someone got hurt in the process. He unlocked the front door and walked in where he was immediately assaulted by the strong odor of disinfectants and cleansers. Myrna had been busy.

"Oh, Graverobber," she called as she bustled down the stairs with a smile on her face, "I've got such good news! Shilo has woken up!"

"That's fantastic!" He replied then asked, "Is she up for a visitor?"

"Yes, and she's been asking for you. She's in her room right now."

"Thanks for watching her, Myrna," he said, "If you want you can go home now."

"I probably should, Marvin likes to do a countdown to when dinner is served and he simply won't stop counting after he's gotten home until dinner is on the table. Then he starts counting how many times he's chewed his food. You take good care of that girl, you hear," and with that the old woman scurried out of the house.

Graverobber took the stairs two at a time before running the short distance down the hall and stopping at Shilo's door to politely knock.

"Come in," she called from the other side.

When he opened the door he half expected to see her face still blank and frozen. He was pleasantly surprised to her sitting at the head of her bed with her knees tucked under her chin frowning and looking like she'd been crying, that was something at least.

"Hey, Kid."

"Hey," she rasped weakly.

"How you doin', did Myrna tell you what happened?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry if I scared you. My Dad used to tell me that sometimes I scared him to death."

"I was worried but I knew you'd get through it," Graverobber said as he took a seat on the edge of her bed, "How're you feeling, emotionally that is?"

She sighed heavily and looked over his head at the holo-portrait of her mother that sat above the piano then side snidely, "Like I've been emotionally hit over the head with a four-by-four plank."

"Descriptive. Maybe you should talk to a umm… professional."

"Do I have to?" She asked irritably

_Was it something I said?_ "Not if you don't want to," Graverobber placated her, "I'm not gonna force you to do anything you don't want to do."

She breathed a sigh of relief, got off her bed and stood in front of him, "I'm going to take a shower then I guess we'll have dinner."

"Dinner? What're we gonna eat, furniture?"

"What do you mean?" She asked with a hand on the hip that jutted out by the way she stood.

"You've been out for a day and half, I had to eat what was left because I didn't want to leave you to go shopping."

"That explains why I'm so hungry. If you didn't want to leave me why was Myrna here when I came out of that comatose state I was in?"

"I had to go out for a few hours to sell zydrate."

"I'm hungry, Graverobber," she said matter-of-factly.

"Then let's go shopping."

"After I shower and get changed and we're going out to eat first then we shop. I don't feel like waiting to get the shopping done to eat."

"Okay, fine by me," _Being hungry must make you kinda moody._

While she showered and changed so did Graverobber who replaced his usual shirt with a black long-sleeved one and changed into another pair of pants, the same kind and color he usually wore but these pants were recently washed, and he traded out his boots with the multiple straps for black combat boots. Then he added a faux leather vest to complete the look. He had completely forgone his gloves in the process. They were just about to leave, Graverobber had been waiting in the hallway after showering and dressing and she let him back in her room after she put on some clothes. Suddenly she threw the black wig she'd placed back on her head after her shower next to the wig stand covered with butterfly pictures and took the blonde one with the bob cut off its stand and put it on. In fact that wasn't the only difference from her usual look he noticed as he looked her over. What she was wearing was unusual for her, at least he thought so. She wore a dark purple mini skirt, a halter top that was the same color, and black open toe stiletto heels.

"Um, Kid, what's with the outfit?"

"What do you mean? Do you not like it?"

"No, it's okay," he was still confused but he had to remind himself that he'd only known her for a little over a week, "In that outfit I better take you someplace respectable where you won't get flirted with, though."

"What wrong with that?" She asked cheekily and placed a hand on his chest.

"Well, word on the street _is_ that you're my girlfriend."

She giggled and removed her hand but said nothing.

"You ready to go?" Graverobber asked.

"You bet I am," she replied and started for the door, "Aren't you supposed to open this for me, y'know, chivalry and all that."

"Ah, of course," he said and opened the door for her, she exited and he followed her out and down the stairs where he repeated the same action at the front door. She turned to look at him after she walked out and he gave her one of his trademark bows before closing the door behind him.

"Where to, baby?" She asked and snaked her arm around his waist.

"You'll see," he said and put his arm around her shoulders. He spent the semi-long walk to Nathan's car with devil and angel versions of himself on his left and right shoulders, Matt and Wolf respectively.

The angel Matt asked, _Baby? Since when does she call me baby? _

The devil Wolf said,_ I kind of like it coming from her._

The angel Matt asked, _That outfit makes her look like she should be standing on a street corner, why would she wear it?_

The devil Wolf said, _She does look pretty hot in that outfit though._

The angel Matt asked, _She changed to that blonde wig, why did she do that?_

The devil Wolf said, _It looks good with the outfit._

The angel Matt asked, _Is this just a side of her that I've never seen before?_

The devil Wolf said, _Yeah, that's it._

The angel Matt asked, _Could that really be it?_

The devil Wolf said, _Of course it is._

It ended on that note, and the general consensus that this was just a side to Shilo he'd never seen before and that he liked it, when they got to Nathan's car. He opened the passenger side door for her and she slipped inside. He got in on the driver's side and started the car up by typing in the password that Nathan used for everything since Shilo was born, marshi39, onto the computer screen and pressing the button labeled "start" on the touch screen that popped up after the password was accepted. Shilo didn't even ask how he knew what the password was.

"I was thinking we should go someplace nice, not 'every individual item on that plate costs fifty dollars' nice but nice, y'know what I'm saying Kid?"

"I think so, baby. You go wherever you want to go. I won't complain," she said with a smirk and placed a hand on his knee that was nearest to her.

He didn't ask, he _really _wanted to ask but he didn't. The drive was spent with the news playing on the radio he'd turned on to distract her. She didn't say anything when they talked about her, somehow the Genetic Opera Incident was still big news, but it was probably a subject she wanted to avoid. He'd let her for now.

The restaurant was just nice enough that it had a host that took them to their table and a waitress that was there to take their drink orders in seconds, it helped that one of the owners was one of his customers and wouldn't call the GENcops on him. If there was one thing he learned from Rotti Largo it was that to make it in this world it helped to have "friends". The store would be fairly safe too but in that case it was because most of the employees were clients and the owner was too busy in his office with "paperwork" named Mia that kept him from getting home until after his wife went to bed. He knew where he was safe and where his head would be served to the Largos' on a silver platter. After taking down the drinks they wanted the waitress left them to peruse the menu. He put down his menu when he found what he wanted and waited until Shilo had done the same before calling the waitress back, who had at some point slipped them their drinks without him noticing, and he placed his order. Shilo told the waitress hers after he was done and then he thanked her as she walked away.

"So, Kid, how're you holding up being out for the first time in a week or so?"

"It's a little surreal, it doesn't feel like I'm out here it feels like I'm watching a movie of someone coming here and sitting here and ordering and all that."

"The last time was pretty bad, I'm not surprised that that's how you feel."

"Bad?" She asked incredulously.

"That's understating it, huh?"

She nodded solemnly, "But y'know, I'm having trouble remembering exactly what happened."

"It'll come back to you, stuff like that always does," the floor was suddenly very interesting. When he looked back up after a few seconds though she was smiling at him, he had so many questions but for once he didn't just blurt out whatever he wanted to ask or say. Graverobber was a different persona from either Matt or The Wolf. Matt would have politely moved into asking the questions, Wolf would have interrogated her until he got answers, and apparently Graverobber was turning into coward. That's not what he'd intended The Graverobber for but this whole situation was affecting all three of them in ways beyond the main self's control, whoever the main self was. When he'd divided himself he couldn't remember but he knew at some point he'd stopped hating masks and started using them. He looked around in an attempt to find another subject to talk about. As he scanned the left half of the restaurant he spotted a face he thought looked terribly familiar.

_Danil?_, "Stay here Kid. I gotta go say hi to an old friend." There was no doubt in his mind that this was Danil Charnell, the detective who Matt and Wolf had long ago befriended. He'd put on a few pounds and his hair was graying but the way he grabbed at his shoulder, a nervous tick he had picked up after being shot there, was too distinctive to miss. Danil was sitting with a woman, a much younger woman, who he was having an animated conversation with. He crossed his arms over his chest and said, "Good evening Mr. Charnell, cheating on your wife now, are you?"

Danil turned with a start and stared at him with wide eyes, "Matt?"

"Keep it down, don't call me by name."

"Look at you," he said, "Time really has flown, hasn't it? How old are you now anyway?"

"Thirty."

Danil shook his head then stood and shook Graverobber's hand, "You remember my daughter, don't you?"

"You mean this isn't your paramour, and here I was thinking you'd gotten interesting."

"Would you like me to tell that to your girlfriend over there?" Danil asked and inclined his head in Shilo's direction.

"She isn't my girlfriend," Graverobber said adamantly.

"Yeah, right, if she isn't then who is she?" Danil shot him a look that clearly said that he didn't believe the drug dealer.

"You remember the head repo-man I told you about, Nathan?"

"The one who died at the Genetic Opera, don't tell me that's him."

"Very funny, but no. That's the Opera Girl, his daughter. The one everyone thinks is missing."

"So you and your only family have reunited?"

"She doesn't even know it and I don't have the heart to tell her I left her. Let's get off that subject," Graverobber dropped his voice so that it was even less audible then when he'd initially began talking to Danil, "Look, I hear someone out there wants me dead. I was wondering if you could look into it for me."

"Sure. There are only a handful of people I can think of that would be able to connect all three of your personas. Do you think it's…?" Danil let the question hang.

"No, he disappeared around the same time I became Graverobber. Not that we parted on great terms."

"Speaking of word on the street, if she isn't your girlfriend than why is she pregnant with your kid?"

"That's something Kell spread around cause' according to him this guy specifically said he wants the only casualty to be me."

"So her being pregnant with your kid and being with you is Kell's idea of protecting you? Actually it's not a half bad idea. The pregnant angle's extra insurance just in case he decides he doesn't mind getting her hurt. Good luck repo-boy, you call me, alright?"

"Alright, Danil, and thanks for the help," said Graverobber before shaking his hand to say good-bye. He walked back to the table feeling a little lighter and heavier at the same time.

"Who was that?" Shilo asked the minute he took his seat. Their food had been brought to them and Shilo hadn't waited for him to return to start eating.

"An old friend of mine, he's a detective. I just figured I'd say hello."

"That's nice."

They ate their meal with short conversations in between, paid, left a generous tip for the waitress and left. The store, one of the few supermarket chain stores on Crucifixus not owned by GeneCo, was one Graverobber was familiar enough with that he knew he could make short work of their shopping trip. At least, it would have been a short trip if Shilo hadn't decided since she hadn't been in a store since she was five she wanted to explore the entire place. She did just that, going down every aisle, looking at every item, at one point he had to keep her from going into the men's bathroom. Her excuse? She'd never seen a urinal in person. At that he'd simply laughed. Somehow even the most domestic jobs could be taken with less harm to his ego and dignity if he was doing it with and for Shilo. Had anybody else wanted or needed him to go grocery shopping for them he'd have said "no" flat out.

"C'mon, Kid, I've got everything we need. Let's go check out."

The cashier was clearly new to the job and her slow work was grating on Graverobber's nerves. He bit his tongue instead. After all, he'd been… what was her name… Annie a couple of times, new to the job and not moving as fast as the people who'd been there awhile so he could sympathize not that it stopped him from being irritated with her slow progress.

"Oh cool," said Shilo and Graverobber turned to see what she was talking about, she addressed the cashier, "you and I have the same name."

Graverobber didn't say anything. He didn't know what to say. The cashier and Shilo exchanged a few words as Graverobber finished putting the bagged groceries into the cart. The two women said goodbye and he and Shilo headed to the car.

"What was that all about with cashier, Kid?"

"What do you mean, baby?" She asked as they arrived at the car.

He knew what it was and he was really hoping that it wasn't what he was sure it was so he asked, "What's your name?"

"Annie. Baby, what's wrong, how can you not know the name of your wife? Maybe you should stop calling me kid so much. Or are you playing games with me?" She put her hands on her hips and studied him for awhile before nodding her head, "Yep, that's it, you're playing games with me," after saying that she got into the passenger's side of the car.

Graverobber had just put the last bag in the trunk and had closed the lid when it really hit him. Shilo was going to need professional help to get through this after all, even if she didn't like it. The ride home was torture, Shilo chattered endlessly about things he didn't even remember but he did get some important information about Annie. She didn't remember the Genetic Opera or who Nathan, Marni, Rotti, Mag, or any of the Largo siblings were. The only thing she could really say for sure was that the last time she went outside was really bad and she only had some vague memories of lying in a pool of blood, walking out of building with confidence, and five minutes after walking out of the building breaking down in hysterics and somehow finding her way to him. He didn't add that before she found him he sent one of his clients to go get the will and bring it back to him for a free hit or that he'd read in the newspaper what had happened to her before she'd found him. She'd also told him about their marriage, how they'd just gotten back from the honeymoon, where she got these "memories" he had no idea. She even went into detail about the dress she wore, how it was just them, a minister and a witness. Nice and simple seemed to be her favorite way of describing it. Actually, it didn't sound like a half bad wedding at all, except that it never happened. She knew she'd inherited the house from her recently deceased father but had no clue who her father was. She remembered meeting Graverobber in the graveyard and he mentally tacked on that it was the first meeting they had where she'd remember him, he'd made sure to make a lasting impression just in case he never saw her again, not to mention to just plain impress her. It hadn't been something he'd planned. He hadn't even known Miss Marni was buried there, maybe there was such a thing as destiny just not a destiny tied to genetics. It was something more, but what? Those were musings for later, right now Shilo was his main concern. He needed to get her home, get the groceries put away, and then he needed to figure out who to call about Shilo's… identity crisis because there was no way he'd admit to himself what was really wrong. He thought the comatose state would be the end of it but it turned out it was the calm before the storm.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Man, this chapter was a real struggle but I knew it needed to get done. It's another look into Graverobber's past. I don't know why this chapter was so hard to write but it was so it isn't my best work and I'm sorry for that, I really am but I don't think there's anything I can do to make it better and to be honest I really want to start work on chapter nine. I hope you like it and before I forget, Happy New Year! :) It's going to be a good year (I hope). Wanna hear a funny story? Stick around if you do but if you don't go ahead and read and REVIEW. My Mom and I were at Wal-Mart and we were at the check out counter. When the cashier was done ringing everything up the total we had to pay was $20.12 on New Year's Eve, isn't that wild. Well, anyway, enjoy the next chapter and read and REVIEW. Once again, sorry it isn't one of my best. Oh, and the theme of this chapter is "Face Down" by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. Enjoy :) **

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><p>Chapter 8: Face Down<p>

_Miss Marni was very brave, it just took her awhile to work up her courage sometimes…_

His first week of, thank God, the _one_ month he'd have to stay in the Largo's house was terrible. It had begun with a fight between Carmella and Luigi, apparently this was commonplace. Then Pavi had to butt his head into their argument and it turned into a fist fight. Man, Carmella could kick hard. She'd sent Luigi into the next room over, his weight taking down the door in the process. That was also commonplace. Rotti had to break it up and Miss Marni looked ready to tear them all a new one.

"I am only staying here a month, right?" he'd asked her as they walked up the stairs.

She looked down at him sympathetically, "Yes, only a month, lucky you. When I marry Rotti, I'll be stuck with them forever."

"So don't marry him," he'd said.

She had replied without looking at him, "Sometimes I wonder if I should… marry him that is. I'd really like to call off the engagement and go back to just dating him again. I could move back in with Mag, I don't think she'd mind since I've only been living here for three weeks. Ah well, let me show you to your room."

The minute he'd walked into the room and she'd shut the door behind herself and left him there, reality had come crashing down on him. He had no one anymore. Nathan and Marni were the only ones who seemed to care even a little but everyone else in the Largo house could care less. He hadn't come out of his room for a few hours and no one had checked on him yet which was just fine by him, he didn't need them or anyone for that matter. He could survive on his own just fine. Just fine, right up until he went insane from being in this room alone for so long, where was the kitchen? He hadn't eaten since yesterday afternoon. He vacated the room and went down the stairway and soon found himself wondering around the palatial house. Looking around, there was no doubt that Rotti Largo was a very rich man. He'd made his fortune with his biotech company after the full force of the organ failure epidemic was a thing of the past. The thing wrong with GeneCo was that instead of helping people it was hiking up its prices steadily on both organs and zydrate and killing people who couldn't keep up with their organ payments. Was that right? It was legal, but was it right? Logically, these people had made the choice to get organs they didn't need at prices they knew they couldn't pay so that made it alright. Maybe repossession was just a way of making sure the deserving got the organs they needed. Yes, that's what made it okay. As he rounded a corner he ran into Carmella, quite literally, and they both fell to the floor with a thump.

"Watch it!" she screeched.

"Sorry, I didn't see you," he explained, "Sorry."

"You're forgiven," she said regally.

"Thanks? Where can I get some food?"

"The kitchen is four doors down the hallway to your left, you can't miss it cause' it has a swinging door."

"Uh, thanks."

The sound of glass shattering in the distance caused both of them to look in the direction it was coming from.

"What was that?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes, "Daddy and Marni are probably fighting again. They fight all the time… at least that's how it's been lately."

As much as Matt thought he'd hate the answer he asked, "Do you even want Miss Marni around?"

"No, neither do Luigi or Pavi but Daddy thinks we need a mother figure in our lives so that's why he's marrying her. We didn't mind her at first because we didn't think they'd be together this long but we were wrong. She's not a bad person or anything but I don't like her and she has no fashion sense."

"That seems like a strange reason not to like a person. Why would there be glass breaking if all they're doing is arguing?"

"I said fighting not arguing," she replied irritably.

"You mean they're beating each other up?"

"Not quite. Daddy'll slap Marni and then the fur really starts flying from there," then she said, as an afterthought, "Besides, Daddy fights like a woman so he'd never get into a real fight. It would look bad for him."

Matthew couldn't help but laugh at that statement before she led him to the kitchen herself. A few days later Matthew found Marni in one of the sitting rooms with a book open on her lap and a blank stare on her face that was pointed in the general direction of the book she wasn't reading. She looked like she'd been crying and was now deep in thought. He didn't want to disturb her but he also wanted to know what was wrong.

"Uh, Miss Marni," he said slowly and quietly, "is something wrong?"

She looked up at him but it seemed to take her a few seconds to realize who she was looking at, "Oh, Matthew. There's nothing wrong at all, I was just thinking."

"I don't think I believe that."

"You're a little too perceptive for me, aren't you Matt? There is something wrong, it's Rotti. I'm sick of it Matt, I'm sick of him intimidating me into staying with him just because we're engaged, I think I'm going to call it off. Yes, as soon as I gather the courage I'm calling it off."

"Can I come with you?"

"Come with me to where?"

"To Blind Mag's, you said you'd go back to living with her if you moved out. I'm not staying here if you aren't."

"It may take me a week or two to work up the courage but when it's done you can come with me to Mag's, I don't think Rotti will care."

"Thanks."

Two weeks passed and Marni had still not, to Matt's knowledge, broached the subject with Rotti. The Largo siblings were driving him insane on top of it all. Carmella wouldn't stop flirting, Luigi had made it his personal mission to drive Matt out of the house… or kill him, and Pavi was just Pavi but that was enough to drive him crazy in of itself. Matt didn't understand a lot about relationships but he was as logical as he was creative. Logically, if Miss Marni wanted to go back to dating Rotti and call of the engagement then she should do that. Creative thinking led him to the conclusion, however, that Miss Marni was afraid to leave him. It made sense, he'd sensed the tension between them before a fight and he could see the finger shaped bruises on Marni's forearms. Matt was not blind to the fact that Rotti was abusive. He was also not oblivious to the news and things his parents had talked about either. Largo wives had a tendency to die under mysterious circumstances. He'd made a point of asking Miss Marni about her decision to tell Rotti she wanted to call off the engagement at least once a day. She'd say that she would and say why she hadn't the day before but it never happened. He'd ask her why and she'd say that she just needed more time to work up her courage. A couple of times in those two weeks he'd see her lying face down on the floor after a fight with Rotti and would help her up. He'd ask her why she didn't just leave without any explanation then and there. She'd say that Rotti would apologize in the morning. Rotti would and her courage to tell him would diminish because she had an idea in her head that he'd miraculously change overnight. Matt was mentally and emotionally wizened beyond his years and knew that would never happen. The final straw for Miss Marni had come when Rotti had told her what her place was in the Largo household. An ornament, he'd called her, and said she was just there to hang off his arm at functions where he had to look his best. The last day of the second week, a day after that incident, had not required him to ask his usual question to Miss Marni. It started when he heard shouting going on in Miss Marni's favorite sitting room and decided to check it out.

"What do you mean you want to call it off?" Rotti screamed as he held Miss Marni's wrists with his hands using brutal force to do so.

"This is exactly what I mean, Rotti. You're not a bad person but when you hurt me like this…! I'm not saying I don't want to be with you Rotti! I just don't want to be engaged to you! Can't we please just date again! We were so much happier then!"

He threw her wrists from his hands and pointed his forefinger at her like a weapon, "If you want to leave then leave, but don't think I'll be so quick to take you back!"

"I'm taking Matthew with me," she said quietly.

"Take him. I never wanted anything to do with the child in the first place. The only reason I allowed this was because the media and that purist group were breathing down my neck about the innocents that got caught up in Nathan's botched repo. It's a good thing for me that he doesn't work as a repo-man full time."

"I've already packed my things and I'll tell him to pack his. We'll be out of your hair in an hour at most."

"Good," replied Rotti as he turned his back to her.

When she walked out of the room Matthew made his presence known to her by saying her name.

"Matt? How much of that did you see, dear?"

"Most of it, it looks like he really did it to your wrists this time. My stuff's already packed too so we can get going whenever you want."

"Mattie, you're something else, something truly wonderful as a person. Sometimes I forget you're an eleven year old boy. You're going be a fantastic husband for some lucky girl. I'll go get my things, you get yours, and I'll call us a taxi."

They were out of the Largo house in a little less than an hour and on their way to Blind Mag's apartment. Mag lived in one of the top ten neighborhoods on Crucifixus. Matt wasn't sure what Mag's neighborhood ranked but it was high enough that it was relatively crime free but not too rich for his blood. They took the elevator to Mag's floor, the apartment complex she lived in looked more like a hotel than anything.

"Oh, Marni," she said cheerily when she opened the door, "you didn't say you were coming over." Then she noticed their suitcases and Matt, "What's happened Marni?"

"I called off the engagement."

Mag wrapped her arms around her friend and squeezed tight. Matthew couldn't help but smile at them. He'd never really had a lot of close friends so it was interesting to see how Mag and Marni interacted with each other.

"It'll be alright Marni, you'll see," she released Marni and looked down at him, "So this is the boy from the hospital? How're you doing?"

"A lot better now that I'm not in _that_ house anymore."

She smiled fondly at him, "Even a visit to Rotti's house makes me need a therapist. Those little monstrosities go out of their way to upset me, especially Carmella."

"You too? Why don't they like _you_?"

"Carmella is convinced that I'm her rival and Pavi and Luigi just don't like me. I don't know what to tell you," she moved to the side of the doorway, "Come on in, I'll get the couch and the guest bedroom all set up for you two."

"Thanks Mag," said Marni as they walked in to the luxurious apartment, "I can't tell you how much this means to me. I'm sorry if Rotti gives you any trouble because of this."

"I can handle Rotti," Mag said as she took their suitcases and set them by the coffee table and motioned for them to sit down. Marni took a seat on the sofa with Mag and Matt plopped down onto an easy chair, "So why the sudden change of heart in your engagement?"

"I'll be honest with you Mag, he was hurting me. Not just emotionally but physically too, I just couldn't take it any longer."

"I'm glad you left him in that case. A man like that doesn't deserve a wonderful woman like you Marni. In fact, just to upset him I want you to let me use my eyes to record you singing part of 'Chase the Morning' and I'm going to feature it in my next show."

"You'd do that just to upset him? You're the best, Mag!"

"What're friends for."

Matt wasn't sure what friends like Miss Marni and Blind Mag did for each other but he hoped one day to have a friend like Mag. He knew how lonesome the world could be and Mag, Marni, and Nathan wouldn't be around forever. No one could survive alone, he realized as he watched Mag and Marni throughout the afternoon and night before going to bed. He'd need someone, a good friend, a best friend… eventually.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I got this chapter out pretty quick, didn't I? Well anyway, here's chapter nine and in this chapter you get to find out more about what's going on with Shilo's identity crisis and some more on the man trying to kill Graverobber. This chapter is supposed to be longer but the truth is that I'm at a bit of a loss on how to introduce ... (who was briefly mentioned as someone who could connect all three of GR's personas and was brought up by Danil as someone who might be trying to kill him) to you. Have no fear though, I'll figure it out. I hope you like this chapter as much as I liked writing it, it was really fun. Also I hope I haven't upset anyone with Diassociative Identity Disorder, I tried to be as true to it as possible but I've never had it so I'm going by people I know who do and research my cousin showed me. The theme of this chapter is Karma Chameleon by Boy George (I fell in love with this song when he performed it when he was a guest star on "The A-Team" it's the only song of his I know but I really like it and it suits Shilo's personalities' behavior towards GR). Read and REVIEW and most importantly enjoy :) **

**P.S. Sorry about the wall of text that starts this chapter but I had a lot to say. **

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><p>Chapter 9: Karma Chameleon<p>

It had been a week since Annie had made her first appearance and now there were three of them. Each version of Shilo was coping in a different way, each was as different as the next and he didn't know how to help her get back to her normal self. Annie was sweet as honey, naïve, a daydreaming waif who only knew her love for the husband that was not her husband at all. She did all the house work and the way she went about it reminded Graverobber of some idealized 1950's housewife that smiled as she moped the kitchen, dusted, vacuumed, and did it all in heels and pearls. She was always holding his hand or leaning against him, in a nutshell she just wanted to be near him. Shortly after that came Kyle, the short haired brown wig the sign of her take over. She was consumed by the things of her room and would rarely come out of her dwelling. Her bugs took up most of her time as she painstakingly preserved, stored, and displayed them. She knew who he, Marni, and Mag were but not who Nathan, Rotti, and the Largo siblings were and the only thing she remembered about the Genetic Opera was, as she put it, discovering something bad about someone she knew and holding that someone in her arms after he'd been shot. The way she put it and reacted to it could best be described as disinterested, for some reason it didn't reach her emotionally. She thought that Graverobber was a boarder in her house and made a point of reminding him when rent was due. She remembered how they met and had no delusions of a romantic relationship between them unlike Annie. She knew her mother had died shortly after she had been born and she remembered meeting and discovering her relationship to Blind Mag. She seemed more like a shell of a person made up of vague facts and held together by thin, weak string. She'd sit and brood and sulk for hours on end. Graverobber was never sure what it was she was thinking but he wished for that kind of insight if it would help Shilo. The worst of them all was Ignacia. She wore the blue wig that went a little past her shoulders. Ignacia knew who Rotti and his children were. She knew that Rotti killed her father and remembered how it happened and what she felt, she even knew her father's name but she couldn't remember a thing about him other than that. She remembered who Marni was and she remembered Blind Mag and that she was her godmother. The thing that made her the worst of the three, however, was that she was convinced that she was one of the girls he pimped. He did that for the girls mostly to protect them form their rougher clients and in return they'd give him a portion of the money they made. He only asked for thirty percent, twenty if he knew they were really in need of money. Let it never be said that Graverobber was heartless. He knew that what they and he did, prostitution or drug dealing, was done as a means of survival on the rough streets of Crucifixus. His girls had bounced from pimp to pimp before landing with him and most of the time they were treated the very worst by their previous pimps, like they didn't have it bad enough with customers, so Graverobber made a point of being particularly kind with them. Ignacia thought her house was his and that she lived there because she was his "favorite". Apparently Shilo knew the definition of pimp and didn't realize that he did not fit the description to its entirety. Ignacia would dress in Shilo's skimpiest stuff. He wished he knew what Nathan had been thinking when he'd bought her those clothes. Maybe he never realized that outfits could be mixed and matched. Shilo probably only subconsciously realized it and Ignacia made use of it. She was a rebel from her clothes to her behavior. She'd blast her music in the middle of the night when any sane person would be sleeping, including Graverobber. If he asked her to turn it down she'd pretend she hadn't heard him. He didn't dare take her anywhere as she was likely to go against every law about proper public behavior and her behavior in her own home was bad enough, he didn't want to think about what she'd do if she had an audience. Ignacia, believing she was one of his girls, couldn't understand why Graverobber didn't want to get "close" when she suggested it and had become quickly convinced that he was angry at her and that she'd done something wrong. She could also be very violent, he once came home to her ripping up her dad's room in a fit of rage and then she walked out of the room after she was done as calm as anyone could be. She was an enigma to him. Graverobber's main problem was finding someone to help Shilo psychologically speaking. This someone would have to be willing to keep Shilo a secret so that Amber couldn't find her via paper trail. Amber had been getting more creative in trying to find Shilo of late. She had people stick mail that went to other addresses in her mail box to see if someone would return it to the sender, the sender usually being a dummy corporation that Amber had set up to receive the returned mail. These letters were easy for Graverobber to catch and all because Amber never thought ahead, ever. Any polite person would not rummage through another person's mail but Graverobber was not polite and was very curious and the papers shoved into the envelopes were very blank. She couldn't have been more obvious. Then someone started following him while he was out dealing and the GENcops that patrolled his favorite cemetery mysteriously stopped patrolling there. He always made sure to take the most looping and twisting path to Shilo's house whenever he was followed and only had to kill someone who was following him once when he proved particularly difficult to shake. Amber had even gone to the house herself. Graverobber had seen her limo headed in that direction and had immediately called. Annie had answered and he told her to shut off all the lights and lock all the doors. She did so right away but stayed on the phone to ask him why and what was going on and if he was okay. He did his best to allay her fears and when she'd told him all the lights were off and the doors and gate locked he said he'd be home right away. She said she loved him before she hung up. Those three and Shilo's occasional appearances really left him confused emotionally. Annie devotedly loved him, Kyle was emotionally distanced from him, and Ignacia wanted him strictly for his body. Wasn't that last one supposed to be his job? No, but he was getting sick of it coming from Ignacia. He wouldn't lie to himself and say he didn't find Shilo attractive, in fact she was very beautiful and he had no qualms about saying so but his feelings for her were still not as clear as he'd have liked them to be. What did those personalities tell him of her feelings for him? Nothing definite, they gave him a lot of mixed messages that may or may not have been how Shilo felt about him in reality. Lately Amber had been upping the prices of zydrate to an all time high and it forced even the middle-class people to turn to street glow. He was making enough a day on drug peddling, let alone what he made off the girls, that by the end of next year he and Shilo would be set for life. That night had been particularly fruitful and he'd raked in quite a large sum of money. He would have stuck around his territory a little longer but Shilo, really Kyle, had called him to tell him that Danil had called the house and that he left a number for Graverobber to call back when he got a chance. Considering the severity of the last thing they'd spoken about Graverobber hurried home to call him in a private setting though he could have easily asked Kyle the number and called him on his phone.

"Danil, it's me," Graverobber said when he didn't get an immediate "hello" from the other end.

"Matt, I've got some… interesting news to give you," he said hesitantly.

"By interesting," he began warily, "do you mean bad?"

"Not necessarily, it might not be half bad news at all. You might need to take a seat for this."

"I'll stand thanks. Danil, what have you got to tell me?"

He heaved a sigh reserved for the truly world weary, "Remember how I asked you if you thought it was…," he paused to let Graverobber's mind fill in the blank, "Well, I couldn't let it go at that so I decided to track him down."

"Why did you do that, he isn't the one out to kill me. He wouldn't care who got in his way if he wanted me dead." What was Danil thinking tracking _him_ down?

"Look Matt, it's taken me almost the entire week since we last spoke to find him but if you're not interested in the information I have I also compiled a list of other suspects you can look at."

That was a relief, "That's why I like you Danil, you're very thorough in any investigation you do but that's why you're captain of the 96th precinct. Either that or you pa-"

"Don't finish that sentence," Danil interrupted.

"Fine, sorry Danil, I was just kidding anyway. I know you're one of the cleanest dirty cops around." It was the truest oxymoron Graverobber had ever come across. Danil did things by the rules, wasn't on the take, didn't sell the drugs he confiscated, he was as clean as they came but doing things like this for him and covering up for him every now and again had dirtied him a little. Not that people really cared about whether a cop was clean or dirty anymore.

"I wouldn't be a dirty cop if it weren't for you but then all the other dirty cops around here wouldn't trust me if you didn't smudge me with some dirt every now and again I guess."

"You're welcome, Danil. About that info you got on…." His eyes dropped to the floor and he scrunched his brow as some unidentifiable emotion blanketed him for a moment, he shook it off before phrasing his question like it was an order, "burn it, will you?"

"No, Matt. Here's where I put my foot down. Besides you may want this folder one day."

Why did Danil have to be so stubborn about this, he didn't want to know where _he_ was, he didn't want to see_ him_, he hated _him_, "Never, he can burn for all I care."

"It's when you say stuff like that that I know you care," he sighed and changed the subject, "I'll come by the Wallace house tomorrow and we'll look over the folder together, okay?"

It took him a couple of seconds to rein in his temper. He was a little hesitant to put Shilo around other people considering her current… state, but it was important to find out who wanted him dead because it couldn't be… it just couldn't, "Okay, but I'll warn you right now that the Kid isn't feeling like herself right now."

Danil laughed and joked, "Well then who does she feel like?"

"A couple different people, you'll probably meet one or two of them while you're here."

Suddenly sobered, he said, "Are you serious Matt? Look, if she's going through some sort of dissociation you need to get her to a psychiatrist or something."

Graverobber could distinctly feel the weight on his shoulders right then, "I'd need someone who'd keep her a secret and I don't know of anyone who'd do that."

"I'll see what I can do. I've gotta let you go, I have a meeting in a couple of minutes. I'll be over tomorrow morning. See ya."

"See ya," Graverobber replied before hanging up. He felt warm arms wrapping around his left bicep and turned his head to see Annie, was it okay to refer to them by the names they said they had even in his head, and she was smiling up at him.

"Who was that?" She asked sweetly.

"Do you remember the man I was talking to at the restaurant last week when we went shopping?"

Her face scrunched up in thought in a way that Graverobber thought was cute on her, "Yeah, you said he was an old friend."

"Well, that was him and he's coming over tomorrow morning to go over some information with me."

"He is," she said with wide eyes of shock, "I better clean up the living room, get some snacks ready, and put out a good dress. Did you just invite him over?"

"Yeah, you aren't upset are you?" When she got upset he noticed either Kyle, or less desirably, Ignacia took the reins.

"No, I have time to get done what needs to get done. Oh and I better put out a good outfit for you too."

"Don't worry about it, I already did." The truth was that Annie was unaware of the fact that they had separate bedrooms and he wanted to keep it that way. It was strange the way she acted like a flustered housewife and he supposed, in her mind, she was.

"I better get going," she said then squeezed his arm before releasing it and heading straight for the living room to start cleaning it.

His eyes followed her until she disappeared behind a corner. When he was certain she was out of earshot he whispered to himself a vow of sorts, it was something he had to hear himself say, not think, to assure himself that it would get done, "Don't worry Kid, I'll get you some help soon."


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Ugh, I'd have had this chapter out sooner but school happened enough said. But hey, it's Friday and I've got the weekend ahead of me and we're having Chinese take-out tonight so I'm happy :) Anyway, chapter 10, in this chapter the name of _him_ is finally revealed. I hope you all like this chapter and don't foget to read and REVIEW! I'll warn you now though, there's more to _him_ than you might initially think :)**

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><p>Chapter 10: Haunted<p>

_His vision was blurry as unwanted tears welled up in his eyes. The pain was overwhelming and made every muscle tense up unbearably. He didn't know how much longer he'd be able to stay conscious and was only vaguely aware of the other person in the room digging the heel of their boot into his side. _

_The deep voice that spoke was smooth like velvet, "Look at the mighty repo-man, brought so low by a mere drug lord like me. I nearly lost my life to one of you once. I had to abandon everything just to keep safe. Tell me, do you realize just how awful what you do is?"_

_He groaned in pain by way of a response._

"_No? Proud to the end, I see. Let's see the face behind the mask, hmm?"_

_A hand appeared in his line of vision and it reached out and grasped him by the throat. He was pulled up and shoved into the concrete wall so fast his head spun. His back stung from the impact. He hadn't really been able to see the man yet because the x-rays built into the lenses of his mask were flickering on and off due to some damage his gracious host had inflicted to them during their fight when Wolf's head collided with the man's fist. The most he'd seen of his companion so far was his black booted feet. The mask hindered his vision for a second or two as it was pulled off. He started to panic, the pain was more than he could take, there was blood everywhere and they were spinning and metal was crunching and someone was screaming and-_

A sharp pain exploded across his face and he grabbed the wrist of the person who slapped him the minute his eyes snapped open. The face hovering above him was outlined with a halo of blue. _Out of one nightmare and into another, _Graverobber thought."Why did you slap me?"

"You were screaming, lover. I figured you were having a nightmare real bad like and I didn't want you to have a heart attack or do somethin' worse like die," Ignacia replied in the sultry way that served as her trademark.

"It was pretty bad, thanks for waking me up."

Her hands were on his shoulders and she sat on the edge of his bed in a nearly see through negligee. She lowered her head onto his chest. He didn't bother to move her knowing that it would just get her upset. He looked over at the clock on his nightstand and saw that it was five in the morning, three hours before he intended to get up. He groaned in annoyance.

"You gonna try to get back to sleep?"

"No, I don't think I'll fall back asleep anyway. I'm gonna go take a shower."

"Can I join you," she asked as she lifted her head off his chest.

He sat up and said firmly, "No, and that's the end of the discussion."

She sat up all the way and pouted like a recalcitrant child and crossed her arms over her chest thus completing the look. He got off the bed and walked out of the room without looking back. While Shilo had been comatose he'd managed to figure out where the second bathroom was and had made himself comfortable almost immediately. As he jumped into the shower he reflected on the fact that that nightmare hadn't occurred since he was twenty-five. Thanks to Danil it had started up again and it was one of the most traumatizing of his memory based nightmares. He was thankful that Shilo woke him up before it got to the worst part, his hand went instinctively to his right eye, but it would no doubt come back to him tonight.

Annie had come to the forefront of Shilo's personalities at some point while he was taking his shower, drying off, and changing his clothes. He found her in the living room putting a plate with sandwiches on the coffee table swiftly followed by two glasses and a pitcher of water.

"Just in case you boys get hungry," she said when she turned to face him.

"What'll you be doing while we're talking?" Graverobber asked just to make conversation.

"There's this show on the TV that comes on around the time you two will be talking, it's a show from the 1990's, and I really like it so I'll be glued to the tube in the kitchen if you don't mind."

He laughed a little, "Go ahead, besides I think Danil wanted to talk alone."

"Is this about something bad?"

"No, not really, well… I'll tell you later, okay?"

She frowned at him but finally conceded, "Okay, but you tell me the minute he leaves. As a married couple we need to be open with each other about these kinds of things."

He didn't reply. What could he say to that anyway? He just put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly. She smiled at him, the kind of smile that made him a little less cold on the inside. The doorbell rang and a voice over the intercom said, "Hey, can I come in or what, this ghost town is starting to scare me."

"Ah, the price we pay for living in a house in the middle of a demolished section of Crucifixus, no one wants to wait outside for us to have a moment," Graverobber quipped.

"Haven't you heard, strange things happen to houses in the middle of nowhere," Shilo shot back, "Anyway, I need to go find out what's happening to Eric this week."

"Well, you enjoy your show then."

She walked past him and out of the living room to the kitchen. He went in the opposite direction to the door where he pressed the button to open the gate and then he opened the door to the house to let Danil in.

The minute he walked through the door Danil said, "I didn't realize that this place was out in the middle of a residential area that looks like it was flattened by Godzilla. This place looks like it's haunted and what's smack dab in the middle? A house, a very nice looking house actually but still, what a place to build it at."

"You leave this house alone, Danil. It was Nathan's pride and joy. He loved this house so much he took on the occasional repossession job before being fully integrated into the repo biz just to pay for all the fixing up this house needed before he moved in."

"Sorry Matt, I forgot he was like a mentor to you."

"Well, that was kind of by default since he was the one to teach me everything I know about repo but we were friends."

"You wanna look at this list or what?"

"Living room is right this way," Graverobber said and led Danil there.

"I've got good news," Danil said once they were both seated on the plush crimson sofa.

"What news would that be?"

"I found a psychologist who was willing to come here to talk to Miss Wallace and would keep it under wraps."

"Who would do that?"

"Uh… my uh…daughter but I hope that isn't a problem."

"No, that's the best news I've had all this week. Thanks Danil, I don't where I'd be without friends like you, Jo, and Indigo."

"Well, we are the people who know all three of you, aren't we?"

"I guess that might have something to do with it, yeah."

"Okay," Danil said, "down to business."

He pushed the plate of sandwiches aside and placed the now open folder on the table for both of them to look at. The very first paper was a list of names, seven of them, and a simple reason they'd want Graverobber dead.

"Kell did say that it was specifically Graverobber this person was after?"

"The Graverobber's the only me he knows so it'd have to be someone specifically after that persona."

"Then it's a good thing I only looked at people with a reason to kill Graverobber. Take a look at the list, I have a brief description of them, their crimes, the time they served, and where they are now behind that paper but maybe if you look at the initial list we can narrow it down further."

"Sounds like a plan, Danil."

Five of them were dealers he'd put out of business when he first arrived on the streets as a dealer. He took their customers, their money, and their territory. By the time he was through with them they had had no choice but to pack it up. The other two were pimps. Each with a girl that was now kicking back a percentage of their pay to him and not them but neither was a very likely suspect as the loss had not done much to their business as usual and the only thing they ever did was glare at him.

"One and four can go, they don't care if I live or die."

"Okay," Danil replied and took a pen and crossed out their names on the list.

Graverobber picked up the paper and examined the motives for each of the five left. It was all worded a little differently since each situation had been different and he knew these five would have means and opportunity to kill him but they wouldn't have any trouble finding him and they wouldn't care who got in their way. They were undoubtedly the most probable suspects but there was no way they were it.

"Didn't you take into account the fact that this person doesn't want anyone but me dead?"

"I did, I based it off their family history. Three of those five would never lay a hand on a mother-to-be and the other two would never lay a hand on a baby even an unborn one."

"I'm telling you Danil, there's no way it's these guys. They've had plenty of opportunity and they have the means not to mention they know where I am most of the night so why would they have to ask around?"

"Well, there's always …" Once again he allowed the other man to fill the blank mentally.

"No Danil, it can't be him. He told me to my face that he had no plans on coming back here."

"He changed his mind."

"I don't like the way you say that like he's here on Crucifixus right now."

"And what would you do if he was?"

There was a drawn out silence then, "I don't know. Is he?"

"You'd have to read the papers in the other folder to find that out. I don't want to be here when you read it though cause' I know your penchant for shooting the messenger. But Matt, I really think it's him so I'll leave the folder with you and you can decide what you want to do with it. My daughter, Galena, will be here tomorrow at twelve in the afternoon to talk to Miss Wallace."

Danil stood and Graverobber followed suite.

"You want to show yourself out?"

"Yeah sure, Matt," he said and reached into his briefcase and dropped a folder onto the coffee table, "Shred the folder with the list of suspects, I don't want it traced back to me."

"I think I'll shred them both," replied Graverobber.

"Whatever you want to do, I'll see you around."

After Danil left Graverobber decided to tell Shilo about her meeting with Galena the next day. When he entered the kitchen he saw a sight that was utter relief to his sore eyes. Shilo, who was sitting on the island and watching the TV. The most welcoming part was that this was undeniably Shilo in all her long black haired, bone white makeup-less featured face and Victorian- style Goth garb glory. He couldn't help but smile. She turned to face him not even bothering to try to hide her tear streaked features. His smile dropped.

"You okay Kid?"

"Yeah," she croaked, "but I noticed the date on the digital calendar and for some reason I can't fully remember the last week. Why?"

"Kid, I think you've been having some kind of dissociative episode. I've seen it happen before. Don't worry though, a friend of mine's daughter is a psychologist and she's coming tomorrow to talk to you. I hope that you sticking around this long is a good sign."

"So do I," she replied then jumped down onto the floor, "Did I do anything weird?"

"Let's just leave it at the fact that you have a lot of personality."

"I don't like the sound of that."

"I'll tell you more about it later, okay? Right now I have some papers I need to shred. Listen, as much as I hate to do it to you cause' I don't know who you'll be when you wake up, you've been awake since five in the morning and I think you need some sleep, I know I do."

"It's a little early in the day for a nap."

"Just close the curtains Kid and quit arguin' will ya," he ordered and gently steered her in the direction of the door that led out into the hallway.

She sighed, "Alright, but we'll talk about this later."

"You told me that already."

"I don't think I did. You know, it's nice to at least understand what's going on," she said aloud to no one as she walked down the hallway followed by Graverobber, "Dad taught me about dissociative disorders among other things. I miss him."

She turned onto the stairs and he waited at the bottom step until he heard her bedroom door close. He went into the living room where he snatched up the two folders. He didn't think there was an electric shredder in the house but his hunting knife could do the same thing to paper with just a little more work except that he didn't feel like going up to his room to get it. The unopened folder mocked him as it sat there. If he looked at it just for a second would it hurt all that much, would it really bother him to know what the old man was doing now and where he was in Crucifixus? He had to be about fifty-three now. He fought with himself, a part of him wanted so much to know what had become of that person and the other half wouldn't care if he died tomorrow in the most horrific way possible. Those days with him were truly torturous memories that replayed themselves in his head as he looked at that folder. Would just skimming over the information kill him? No. He picked the unopened folder up and held it in one hand with almost crushing force. Knowing where he was wouldn't cause him to come to the house. Knowing wouldn't hurt in the least. He opened the folder slowly, slightly away from himself as if it might come alive and attack him. Inside was a folded up wanted poster, the charges on it he knew were similar to his own. He took it out and put it on the coffee table. There were recent photos behind the poster which he looked at briefly but they were too grainy to see any details beyond the fact that the person in the picture was indeed_ him_. The first paper was a profile stating his name and alias, crimes, age, hair color, eye color, blood type, and last know location which had been one of the partially man-made islands, an island like Cucifixus was, and that it was an island that was near one of the continents. He turned the page but there was nothing on the back. He looked at the next paper, it was something Danil had typed up and addressed to him. Danil had, through several legal and illegal sources, managed to uncover _his _new location. It was, as he had said, Crucifixus but Danil had managed to get a specific location. _He_ was living in an apartment complex in the slums five blocks away from where Graverobber dealed making him too close for comfort. Whatever the case, it was true. Xerxes "King" Areli was back… back for him more than likely.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Last chapter's theme was "Haunted" by Evanessence and this chapter's in "I'll Make a Man Out of You" from Disney's Mulan (I know I'm weird) Enjoy :) and read and REVIEW**

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><p>Chapter 11: I'll Make a (Repo) Man Out of You<p>

_Maybe if he hadn't had so much time to himself the idea would never have occurred to him…_

Things had initially been rocky when he moved in with Nathan but considering the circumstances they were under at the time it was understandable. Their introduction to one another was supposed to be mediated by Marni who would stay with them until after dinner at which time she hoped both would be fairly comfortable with the other but Rotti's limo had been waiting outside of Mag's apartment complex and Marni had been too scared to go outside. Mag had led them out to the back of the building where Marni had directed a taxi to be. She told Matt that she was sorry but she couldn't risk leaving the apartment and that he'd have to go to Nathan on his own. Their initial meeting had gone bad when Matt showed up without Marni and Nathan had been so worried that he'd spent the rest of the day talking to her, trying to figure out what was going on and how he could help her. She'd told him several times that Nathan needed to get off the phone and get to know him but he wouldn't hear of it. In the end Matt helped himself to whatever was in the fridge and fell asleep on the couch just a little resentful of the surgeon. After that Nathan tried desperately with little success to be a paternal figure to Matt but had no experience with children which often led to him making things worse.

It had gotten especially difficult when Matt started going to school again. He was in the sixth grade but had to catch up on a month and a half of missed work which required him to work at school and at the house. He was more than a little stressed by all the extra work which was taking forever to get through. It didn't help that he wasn't the most popular person in the school. In fact he was probably the least. He didn't approve of unnecessary surgery, he wasn't wearing the latest fashion, and the worst social sin he committed of all was that he actually liked to read. Most people associated that with a love of learning but in truth he couldn't stand listening to those teachers ramble on and on as though by saying what they wanted you to know you automatically learned it.

He was often bored at school and often fell asleep in class. He'd even fallen so fast asleep once that he started dreaming. That of course had led to his least favorite nightmares and waking up screaming. That had led to a visit to the principal and a call to Nathan who had told him that he needed to find something to keep himself awake. He took that advice to heart and to keep himself up he may or may not have instigated a few incidents in a couple of classes. To say the least Nathan, as his guardian, felt that it was a failing on his part and sought to correct the problem by grounding Matt and making him use the free time he'd had before to do more of the work he'd missed. That only ended up making things worse. If Nathan had suspected his charge was trouble before he was convinced by the time Matt was through his school. The building had become more of a boxing ring to him. He'd have several fights a day but the teachers usually overlooked it in favor of heading to the lounge. Enough was enough, however, when one of the teachers got caught up in a fist fight he was in with an eighth grader. It took Nathan two weeks to find a school that would take him after his expulsion and Matt had to transfer to that new school right in the middle of a grading period on top of it all. It might have gone on longer except that they finally came to an understanding.

"I don't get it Matt, I never did anything but what I thought was best for you this past month and what do you do? You've been getting in fights constantly, you drove one teacher to an early retirement and forced me to transfer you to a new school. Is behaving too much to ask of you?"

They were in the kitchen making dinner, meatloaf, which was not a favorite of Matt's. Nathan had asked him how his first week at West Crucifixus Middle School went. Matt had, with no thought to the consequences, told Nathan of his recent fight just that day at his new school and the doctor was unhappy to say the least. What he didn't seem to understand was that there was a reason he was doing this and Matt was getting sick of holding his tongue on the matter. He knew something was wrong with him and Nathan was just going to have to hear it whether he liked it or not. Matt had heard that sometimes kids acted out the way he was behaving to get attention or as a "cry for help" and he'd been thinking on his actions quite a bit. He'd done what he did to get attention he wasn't getting from Nathan which made perfect sense to him. Dr. Wallace was more than a little aloof sometimes and spoke so little that Matt often felt alone in the apartment he called house not home.

"It's not that, Nathan," he said in an attempt to explain.

"Then what is it?" He asked with his arms crossed over his chest.

"I…," he looked down at the floor for several seconds and his head felt ready to exploded as he racked his brain to find the root cause for why one day when some kid had given him some kind of look he couldn't identify as either being good or bad he decided to teach him to make better facial expressions with his fist. He wasn't sure why after that he hadn't stopped getting into fights either. The answer was elusive and every time it was right in front of him it would jump away when he reached out to grasp it. After several more seconds of unintelligible sounds coming from his mouth he managed to figure some of the answer out and said, "I'm… I'm alone Nathan and you don't notice."

Nathan's body language spoke of the affect the revelation had on him. He put his hand on his forehead as though to say "how could I have missed that" without really admitting he'd missed something. He rolled his eyes in a self-depreciating sort of way which spoke of phrases like "you idiot" to Matt. When he lowered his hand he raised the other to rub his temple which seemed to say "this is just going to get worse" in reference to what ever else Matt had to say.

Matt continued as the answer, though difficult for him to understand, poured out using the best words he had in his vocabulary, "I haven't made any friends, all my old friends and me don't really get along anymore, you're never here long and when you are you ignore me, and Miss Marni hardly ever leaves Miss Mag's apartment cause Rotti's been sending her threats so she can't be here either."

Nathan looked at him stunned that he hadn't realized Matt had been eavesdropping on the phone conversations that had become more and more frequent between him and Miss Marni. He seemed to stumble for something to say before finally squeaking out, "You do understand that I have work, right?"

"I know there are lots of organs to repo, right?" He wanted to remind Nathan he knew that bit of information about him so he wouldn't get any ideas of being anything other than truthful with him.

"That's more of a side-job," he said defensively than calmed and said, "I'm a surgeon. I have patients that could die without me. I'm sorry if I haven't made time for you but I am very busy."

"I get it," and he really did despite the skeptical look on Nathan's face, "what you do is serious but you don't even try."

"Try what, Matt?," he asked with puzzled look on his face, "You're going to have to explain."

"To… understand, I guess is what I'm trying to say."

Nathan hanged his head. To Matt it looked like he was coming to a conclusion of some sort in his mind. He shook his head a couple times than looked up with renewed determination, "Okay Matt, I think I've finally figured out where I went wrong and how I can make this right. I think what you need is a… not a hobby but something to… you've made a lot of headway on your missed work these past two weeks and you should be able to finish up the rest of the missed work in a week or so. I think what you need is something to occupy you after you finish your school work, would you like to learn a little about medicine?"

"I'm eleven," replied Matt thinking that it was all the explanation that was needed.

"Are you interested?" Nathan asked as though he was trying to extract something more.

Matthew couldn't think of what more there could be to extract though. He was eleven, you didn't learn about being a doctor when you were eleven. The idea was admittedly appealing and the things he'd be able to brag about after learning medicine for a while would be interesting to tell his classmates and he could only imagine what sort of things they'd say. He couldn't lie to Nathan about how much he wanted to learn so he replied, "Yeah," enthusiasm loud and clear in that single word but then there was the cold hard fact that kept him from learning anything from Nathan, "but I'm eleven."

Nathan only smiled at him and said sagely, "You can learn anything you set your mind to learning. It's the only thing worth passing on that I know and if you want to learn then I'd be more than happy to be your teacher."

His age didn't matter? He could learn anything? Why hadn't someone informed him of this sooner when there was so much he wanted to learn and he'd thought he couldn't because he was eleven? They really ought to tell these sorts of things to kids who actually want to learn. He wasn't a nerd or something. Matt just liked new things, people, and experiences. He detested falling into ruts. With his enthusiasm renewed he said with a broad smile, "So that's what we're gonna do then, you're gonna teach me some stuff about medicine."

"Yes."

After that they developed a routine for the weekdays and weekends. Weekdays he'd come home after school, get something to eat, do his homework, learn from Nathan, have dinner, shower, then go to bed. The lessons on the weekdays were only an hour long and started off with first aid but Nathan said they might move into more complicated stuff. The weekends consisted of a slightly less strict schedule. He'd get his homework done Saturday morning, lay around and watch the TV or go somewhere, lunch, lessons with Nathan, dinner, stay up and watch TV, go to bed and repeat the next day. Nathan had said several times that he was adept at medicine and that maybe he should become a doctor like him, but Matt didn't want that. He wanted to do something else, something that he knew normal eleven going on twelve soon year olds wouldn't normally want. He wasn't normal. To him the most enticing job, the only thing that really seemed like a worthy vocation was repossessions. The idea had formed as he thought about his Mom and Dad and all the things they were missing out on, it resulted from an onslaught of nightmares so horrible that he'd wake the entire apartment complex up from screaming in his sleep, and it made sense. His parents had died because a man ran from his fate, a man tried to escape the law that said his organs were not his. He had no right to them anymore. That heart should go to someone deserving if he wasn't willing to pay for it. When that thought occurred to him Matt realized the only proper way to honor his parents memory was to make sure what happened to him never happened to anyone else. He knew repo-man was the only job for him.

Nathan on the other hand seemed to blanch at the idea of Matt doing repo for a living when he brought it up. Matt didn't see anything wrong with it but he was willing to hear Nathan out on this one on a condition of course. His Dad had taught him through many years of haggling bedtimes, snacks, how much of his vegetables he had to eat, which TV shows he could watch, and what junk foods he was allowed to eat. Nathan could clearly be just as easily manipulated as his step-Dad had been. The condition was simple. Nathan could say "yes" or "no" but only after hearing Matt's thoughts on the matter and why he wanted to do this. Why he wanted Nathan to teach him. He thought he had a very sound argument. Nathan put up quite the argument himself but slowly his arguments crumbled in the face of a well thought out argument. Matt had been planning on what he'd say for weeks and was manipulative enough to act a little apprehensive about presenting his argument to generate sympathy from Nathan after he'd presented his.

"I just really want to do this, Nathan, I really think it'd be the best way to honor my parents."

Nathan paced the sparse living room while Matt sat on the couch and watched him.

"I really think it's a bad idea, Matt."

"Why's that?"

"You're eleven. You can't possibly know what it is you want to do with your life yet. A repo-man, of all things! I don't think that your parents would want you to extract organs for a living."

"Probably not, but it's my life and my choice," Matt said determinedly.

"But you are asking for my approval," Nathan shot back with a finger pointed at himself.

"No, I'm not," Matt said pointedly.

"Then what is it you want from me?" Nathan asked in a soft tone, as though sensing he was about to be asked to do something that didn't entirely appeal to him, and Matt supposed that he was.

"Teach me."

"Just because you never want what happened to you to happen to anyone else doesn't mean that this is the way to do it."

"If there's another way than tell me."

Nathan stumbled for words making it apparent that he hadn't expected to have to tell him what other jobs there were. His face scrunched up in frustration before his features finally relaxed and he sighed, "I can't think of any other job, unless you want to be a Gentern."

"I wouldn't look good in a dress and high heels."

"No," Nathan said and finally smiled, "No, you wouldn't. I guess not every repo-man's messed up in the head so… I don't know, it could work but you have to be very mature about this if you're really so determined to do this."

"I can be mature and I want to do this."

"Fine, training takes about three years, we can start when you're eighteen."

Matt's eyes bulged. Eighteen wouldn't come fast enough for him. He wanted to get started right away. His worst imaginings were filled with kids like him, parentless and jaded because some jerk couldn't keep up with his organ payments.

He decided to give Nathan a piece of his mind, "Nathan, I know you think I'm just a kid. You think that I couldn't possibly handle this but I'm telling you I can! After what I've seen, I can! I don't want to have to think about kids ending up like me. I want to be out there as soon as possible to keep it from happening! Can you see where I'm coming from, can you Nathan?"

He seemed to mentally debate for an eternity before he asked, "When do you want to start?"

"After my thirteenth birthday," Matt automatically replied knowing compromise was in order in the current situation.

"But you'd be sixteen by the time you'd start actual repo. Matt, I don't want to see you get messed up cause' you started before you were ready!"

"Then why are you a repo-man?" He asked as a defense and out of sheer curiosity.

"I have things I need to pay for and some people who I owe money to. Rotti knew I needed the money so I got a crash course in repo. I guess I am one to talk. It's an ugly but necessary job. Fine, I'll teach you, I want you to learn this in the least mentally scarring way possible and that can only happen if you learn from me. Matt, I…" he heaved a heavy sigh and covered his eyes with one hand. He looked like he was either getting a migraine or about to cry. Matt really hoped it was the first. Finally Nathan spoke again, "I can't believe this. Matt, you're eleven and while you may be sure I don't think that I am but I know that kind of determination and I know one way or the other you're going to do this so I might as well help you to your goal."

That night Matt thought about what he'd soon be learning. Not with the kind of childish excitement characteristic of kids his age but with a maturity well beyond his years. His ordeals had aged him. There were things that had been happening to him that he hadn't told Nathan. These things typically cropped up in school. He hadn't said a word about the bullying or how his lack of friends was truly depressing. He didn't tell him how he had a hard time understanding what he was being taught sometimes or that his teacher's had said directly to him that his parents' death was no excuse to be doing poorly academically. He didn't tell Nathan about the stress that felt like a boulder on his shoulders. But he especially didn't say anything about the thing that scared him most, how easily angry he often was given the right circumstances. It left him just shy of hurting the source of his ire by the time he managed to get away from it. He wasn't sure what this anger would mean for him and if the anger was why he chose to pursue the vocation he was pursuing but he knew that the anger was affecting him in a bad sort of way.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Yes! It's finished :) This chapter is especially special because it was a colab between my cousin the author named ToiletWater (I don't ask why she made that her username) and myself. Normally I wouldn't do this but Galena (who you may have forgotten by now) was near impossible for me to write so with consideration to her major I decided to share Galena with ToiletWater so Galena's dialouge and the whole scene between her and Shilo (Kyle) were written by her while I wrote everything else. You may be able to tell the difference. Considering the lack of response to the last chapter I'm beginning to wonder if anyone is still interested in this but I'll give it a chance. Maybe the people who actually read that chapter could sense how tired of it I was and it got to them. I was staring at the computer screen typing until midnight on a school night and by the time I posted chapter 11 I wanted the chapter to be a person so I could beat it up for keeping me up so late. The theme of this chapter is "Secret" sung by the Vocaloid (that's a voice synthesizer) named Megurine Luka (last name is first and first is last) which really suited the chapter. Enjoy :) and please read and REVIEW! **

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><p>Chapter 12: Secret<p>

_I don't know if I am a boy  
>I don't know if I am a girl<br>I don't know when I was born  
>I don't know who's my mother<em>

_I don't know how I got alone_  
><em>I don't know how I got mad<em>  
><em>I don't know how I got mad<em>  
><em>I don't think I should get back<em>

She'd sent a threatening note to Shilo. Amber Sweet was starting to push all of Graverobber's wrong buttons. She knew how to. He was sure she knew who he was despite not having seen him since he was seventeen. She knew which buttons to press with Matt too. She knew not to press Wolf's buttons but the fact that she could unknowingly push his was truly astounding. The note was not even attempting to be close to the truth, which seemed to suit Miss Sweet's personality just fine. However it was the lies written in that very note that ended the reading of it with his knuckles bloody from punching the brick wall that surrounded the Wallace residence. If she had been more outright he'd have been less angry at her.

_Dear Miss Shilo Magdalene Wallace,_

_Since I have been unable to find you I have decided to send you this note in the hopes you'll receive it. It has come to the Crucifixus Police Department's Homicide Division's attention that you are underage and cannot live on your own. I told them to hold off from sending Social Services to your house for you so that I could contact you myself and see if you'd be willing to live with us Largo siblings. I know the idea may not initially be appealing but I think we may grow on one another after a time and it'll only be until your eighteenth birthday next year. Rest assured that we will take care of you, your house, and make sure any and all paperwork and finances are taken care of. Please consider this offer and decide soon as I am unsure how much longer I can convince the police to not send you to an orphanage. _

_Sincerely,_

_Amber Sweet_

The idea was probably hers to some extent but the note was clearly written by someone else but probably under her supervision. He muttered to himself as he walked back into the house, "Amber Sweet, if I ever manage to get my hand around your throat again it'll be to choke you to death. This note's a lot of bull and if the Kid had gotten it and read it God only knows what she'd do."

The door slammed behind him causing Miss Marni's portrait to shake from the force. He crumpled the note in his hand and marched up the stairs still paying no mind to the blood still pouring from his hand. He practically ripped the door to his room off its hinges and slammed that door behind him just as hard as the front door. He growled as he threw the note onto the floor.

The anger would not be satisfied by that mere action. The Wolf wanted blood, Amber Sweet's blood. He wanted her to suffer for trying to making Shilo's already damaged, possibly crumbling, life even worse. He wanted to make her blood spill for persistent attempts to get Shilo in her clutches and take away everything from her. That was an unforgivable thing to do to someone who'd been through so much and lost so much. He could picture in his mind all the things he'd do to her to prolong her suffering. He'd cut slow with a dull blade. The very thought made him smile. Maybe he'd make her watch as he slowly dragged her organs from her body instead of slitting her throat. He was going for his wolf helmet before he knew what he was doing. When it was in his hands and staring back at him only then did he noticed. The temptation was great, greater than him but if he focused he could stop. Then again, if she and her brothers were dead then there'd be nothing for Shilo to worry about anymore. They could live without the threat of GeneCo hanging over their heads. They could live happily, but was it worth going back on the promises he made to himself and others nine years previous. No, he wouldn't lie to Shilo, he didn't have to tell her about his past, and he'd find another solution to the Amber problem. Suddenly there was a knockingat the front door which shook him from his thoughts.

One thing Galena was not good at was mazes. She got lost easily. Maybe the word wasn't so much 'lost' as it was 'distracted….' and then lost. She just hoped this was the right door. No one had bothered to warn her about this place being…huge. She'd tried knocking on the gate door, first.

"Hello?" the man who answered the door could have been a vampire, and he looked kind of shocked that she was there. He was so pale, either he was extremely agoraphobic or he was wearing a ton of clown make up, without the smile. Galena knitted her eyebrows together, and then broke out in a smile.

"I'm Galena Charnell."

"Oh. Danil's kid. Here for Shilo?"

"Yes. Is this a bad time?"

"There is no good time." he stepped back to allow her in; "Why didn't you buzz in on the intercom?"

"Intercom? There wasn't one."

He didn't respond. Later, he'd have to show her where the intercom was so that he didn't have her wandering through his yard with him unaware; kind of like what happened now. "She should be in her room. It's upstairs, first door on the right."

"Thank you." Galena wondered if it was weird for her to go walking into another girl's room; house calls were really uncommon these days. She just couldn't imagine why they needed a free therapist, living in a house like this. Maybe she should ask for more details later. As she approached the room, she removed her large sun hat absentmindedly, and then knocked on the door. "?"

_Miss? _The eyes on the girl's body blinked. "Miss…?"

The teenage girl sat at a desk littered with books and... bugs? Yes, bugs and she was preserving them it would seem. She wore baggy blue jeans, blue tennis shoes, a black shirt and a blue suit jacket. Her short brown hair was somewhat in the way of her equally brown eyes. She wasn't the type Galena was expecting to live in a house like this, although she had to wonder exactly what she _was_expecting.

"I heard you could use someone to talk to. My name is Galena."

"...you're the therapist." she stated in a voice that was soft, yet somehow business-like and almost hostile.

"I hate the word 'therapist.' I just want to be your friend, okay?"

The girl looked like she was contemplating something, and may have gotten lost in her thoughts. Galena was thinking of saying more when she suddenly nodded, indicating that she understood.

"Shall I come in, or do you want to come out?"

"You may come in." she was totally absorbed in the bugs, it seemed. Trying not to impose, the blonde came in, setting her hat down. She shut the door behind her and sat down on a chair.

"Will you mind answering some questions for me?"

"Ask away." she didn't seem at all interested, but wasn't objecting. Galena sighed and tried to situate herself. Danil had specifically asked that none of this be documented, so she was going to have to take notes in a personal notebook.

"Alright. First, why don't you tell me if you've had any history of illness or psychiatric problems in the past?"

"No."

Galena blinked and stared at her. "You would prefer not to answer?"

"No. I don't have a history of any kind of sickness."

"Oh, alright." she scribbled down the answer. "Any history of illness in the family?"

The girl sitting on the bed blinked her eyes with a blank stare, turning her head for once to face Galena. Her expression was strange; drawn and apathetic, not quite bored- just not really caring. It didn't even look depressed, more accepting and tolerant of what was happening. "Probably."

"And you don't happen to know what?"

"No. No, I don't know." blinking again, she turned her attention back to the bugs she seemed to be so involved with.

Galena nodded to herself and wrote that down, too. "Do you know why I was asked to come here, today?"

"To talk to me."

"...okay, let me ask you this; who asked me to come here today?"

"Probably my tenant."

"Your...tenant?"

"Yes. The man who answered the door."

Galena stared at her. She doubted this girl was that man's landlady, and actually, that was not at all the arrangement she had been told about. Now, her curiosity was piqued. She flipped through some stacks of paper and pulled out a blank white sheet. "I know you're a little pre-occupied there, but would you mind drawing a picture of yourself for me?"

"Why?"

"It's just a brain-perception test. It's kind of necessary; I'm only doing it to make sure everything is working right."

Shrugging, she took the paper and grabbed a pen off the desk. Then, smirking and pushing out a small chuckle, she said; "You know, it's hard for me to think of you as a friend with you running all these psych tests."

"I know. I'm sorry, it's just necessary for me."

The smirk on her face didn't fade as she doodled away a simple picture of...someone that didn't really look like her. The clothes were exactly the same, but the figures chest was entirely straight. Its head was more round, and had black hair just down to the nape of its neck. The eyes were gray, and the expression had a signature blankness.

"Are you a boy or a girl?"

"A what?"

"Are you a boy or a girl? Woman or man? Male or female?"

After a moment of what looked like serious thought, she answered; "I don't know. Are those my only options?"

The therapist was floored. That was the strangest response she'd ever gotten. She always thought it was abnormal when someone said 'I'm not really either' or 'Do you mean sex or gender?'. But, were those her only options?

"Neither one seems right for me."

"Do you know how to tell if you're a boy or a girl?"

She blinked, then responded; "No."

"Do you want to know or think you should know?"

"No. No, I don't care."

"...okay." Galena wrote that down. "So, tell me more about yourself."

She sighed, beginning to seem frustrated by all the questions. "I'm a landlord. I own this house and I make money. I like bugs. When I was younger, I saw my dad working...he ran a cemetery. He took peoples' organs and blood out so he could fill them with a preservation." going by the expression on her face, she got suddenly stuck on an idea. "Smart man, my father. Very, very smart."

"Were you close with your father?"

"I don't know."

"What about your mother?"

"I don't know."

"You seemed to think highly of your father, that's why I was asking."

"I don't think anything of my father. He was just smart."

"So, how did you get to be a landlord?"

"I have a big house. I let someone rent a space."

"Why do you have a big house?"

"So I can be a landlord."

The conversation was beginning to go in circles, but Galena was sure it was a genuine 'I don't know' sort of answer. "I see. Why don't you tell me how you feel?"

"How I feel?"

"Yes."

"I feel okay."

"You aren't sad or angry or anything like that?"

"I'm a little sick of answering questions."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

Smiling slightly, Galena stood up, closed her notebook, and picked up her hat. "I think I've asked everything I need to for now. Have a nice evening."

"Have a nice evening. Oh, and on the way out, could you tell that man he owes me money?"

Graverobber sat with his legs crisscrossed and his eyes closed in the center of the hall trying to find a calm place in his mind. Holo-portraits of Marni Wallace lined both walls. At the wall at the end of the hall was where Miss Marni's body was supposed to have been preserved. _Even Miss Marni said a body was just a shell that hosted the thing that made a person alive. _But the sting of the GENcops defilement of her true resting place burned his hardened heart nonetheless. He was failing miserably at calming himself. Amber's letter had gotten him worked up more than was safe for him and those around him. He'd taken care of his bloody knuckles after Galena went up to talk to Shilo. He hoped that was going well. He hoped that Shilo would get better.

He heard her approaching from behind before she'd even entered the hall, "I'd like to know what days you plan on talking with Shilo, Miss Charnell and I'd also like to know how much you cost."

"I can be here whatever days you request; I haven't had anything specific set in. The only bad days are Tuesday and Friday, and I don't work weekends. Any other day, I can make time. As for money, I assumed I was working for free, but usually I charge about $35.00 an hour."

"Every day but Tuesday and Friday if you can, I'll have your pay at the end of the week and I work longer on weekends so that works out just fine." Unfortunately there was no way he could say this next bit without upsetting her and seeming rude but it was necessary. He opened one eye before he spoke and didn't bother to turn to face her, "Let me make something very clear Miss Charnell. If you ever betray my trust and tell Amber about Shilo and where to find her, than even my friendship with Danil will not save you, I'll kill you. I will find you in your weakest hour when no one is around who might rescue you. Do not give me cause to do so. You will regret it, rest assured." He closed his right eye again.

Calmly, Galena blinked at him, undisturbed by the death threat. "Let me make something very clear to you; I don't like having my integrity infringed on. I am in no way affiliated with this...Amber...person, and even if I was, all of your information is held confidential. If someone happens to find out about Shilo, I assure you it has nothing to do with me, and if you so much as lay a finger on my person I will have you in the ground before you can say '.' I am stronger than I look, do not underestimate me. Is that very clear, sir?"

_Ah, to be twenty-three and stupid again. Confidential is just a word, everyone is out for themselves hon' but I was being fair and you'd have an awful hard time fighting me off with a slit throat. However I like your attitude. You're not naïve, I can tell, just unaware of what you're dealing with. _He mentally sighed, _If she doesn't know who Amber is she must be less informed than I thought. Did I remember to add Sweet to that? Oh well. I'll just have to give her more details later._

He only laughed darkly by way of an out loud response then said solemnly, "I'm under a lot of stress right now. Shilo's DID is hard to deal with. I knew getting her back on her feet would be difficult but this is sometimes too difficult to deal with. I don't know what to do about my own problems sometimes. I feel like I can't breathe. I've managed to keep my anger in check for a little less than a decade but all this is making me more temperamental than I've been in a long time," then he said as a sort of side note to himself, "I need to learn how to calm myself down again."

The therapist was naturally empathetic, but that didn't keep her from being miffed about the prior conversation. That left her a little uncertain of what to say. "Try meditating or breathing techniques. Anything else will cost you $35 dollars an hour." the last statement was made both out of spite and in good humor.

He laughed again, _She's kinda cute when she's snarky_, "You've told me nothing I don't already know and I wasn't asking for advice. The intercom is right next to the gate, by the way. I'm not a very gentlemanly person so you can show yourself out. Just so you know I am grateful to you from the deepest part of whatever's left of my heart for helping Shilo. I have your number to call you if I need you and I'll send you a numerical code you can type in on the key pad to get in just in case I'm not here."

He listened until the front door opened and closed before settling back into his previous exercise of futility. Maybe an hour or so later he was shaken from whatever line of thought he'd been following by the sound of feet walking his way. He got up and turned to see Shilo, the actual Shilo, standing at the end of the hallway looking frightened to go any further. In respect of that he joined her where she was.

"Hey, Kid, how'd things go with Doc Charnell?"

"I don't know," she said with a shrug of her shoulders and her eyes firmly fixed on the floor.

"That's okay," he replied gently.

"Graverobber, can you tell me _now_ about repo-men."

Not this again, "I'd rather not Kid."

She looked up at him with big puppy dog eyes, "Please."

"I'd rather not."

"Why_ not_?" She asked with emphasis on the not, "What is it that you aren't telling me."

"Okay, fine. I can't tell you everything because it's," _classified and I'll have the other repo-men out for my blood if they find out I said more than I should have_, "difficult. I will tell you some of it though."

She wrapped her arms around him for an instant then let go. "Thank you. I thought you didn't trust me for awhile there."

He sighed, "You'll see the posters everywhere if you go outside, especially in the slums. GeneCo purports to recruit their night surgeons but the truth is that they deliberately find some of the most hardened killers out there and train them. They take people with potential to be completely inhumane or who are already lacking a conscience and turn away any actual recruits. The ones that usually go to the recruiting offices are usually reporters or people from the anti-organ repo groups who are trying to expose GeneCo for what it is, anyway."

"I see," she said with a look of understanding, "In other words they forced my Dad to do repo."

"I can't say, not right now," Graverobber replied without looking the teen girl in the eyes.

She changed the subject for him, "You going out, it'll be dark soon."

"Yeah," he replied, "I'll try to be back before three in the morning. What's today, Kid?"

"Friday," she replied with a curious look.

"Monday you'll be meeting with the psychologist again," he said.

She didn't look like she understood but nodded anyway and headed back to her room.

"I'll see you in the morning," he called before she closed the door behind her. He sighed, tired and angry but glad that she was at least getting some kind of help. The night would hopefully be profitable. He wanted to grab something to eat before he left and he needed to make a stop at the cemetery for more zydrate. He'd keep an eye out for anyone watching him. Xerxes was still out there and he had to be careful. He had more than just himself to care about these days.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: I'm baaack! :) Sorry it's been so long. I had to deal with school, friends, grades etc. I'm sure you've been there and done that. The worst mistake I made with this story was watching the trailer for "The Dark Knight Rises" and I'll be honest with you, Batman is my first love and Repo! my second. Sorry Graverobber. I apologize profusely, however, that I didn't get this up due to my distraction. I beg your forgiveness. I beg for reviews as well. They make me wanna write this some more. I'm thinking of posting a Dark Knight fanfic I've been working on while trying to work up interest in this again and if I do I'll alternate between posting chapters for this and that one (if people are even interested in it that is). Don't hit me for it. Okay, so this is a little confusing but the theme of this chapter is "I Have Been There" by Mark Schultz but Blind Mag sings the Inkubus Sukkubus cover of "Paint It Black". I hope that clears up any misunderstanding that may have been without that explanation. As always I ask you to read and REVIEW and enjoy :)**

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><p>Chapter 13: I Have Been There<p>

_An older man up on a hill  
>Holding flowers but he can't hold back the tears<br>He has come to say goodbye  
>He thinks about the life she lived<br>Thinks about how hard it's been  
>To live without her<br>Sixty years right by his side  
>And he cries, Oh Lord I loved her<br>'til the end  
>Then he heard a gentle voice say you'll see her once again <em>

_I have been there  
>I know what sorrow is all about<br>Yes, I have been there  
>And I am standing with you now<br>I have been there  
>And I came to build a bridge<br>Oh so this road could lead her home  
>The road could lead her home<br>Oh I have been there_

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><p>Matt and Nathan traversed the fair grounds of the Largo's annual festival which just so happened to coincide with his thirteenth birthday which was early in the month of February. The whole place disgusted him but at the same morbidly fascinated him. There was a booth where you could have your face changed. Skin grafts at another booth. Other booths offered surgeries right there and then. The smell of popcorn permeated the area. Blind Mag had invited them to the Genetic Opera, the premiere event of the festivities, and said she thought she might finally be able to settle things between Marni and Rotti. For some reason that news led to some old woman down the hallway babysitting him while Nathan went out shopping. He didn't even come back with anything. Matt was confused but asked no questions.<p>

"Matt?"

"Yeah, Nathan?"

"Look, if it looks like things between Rotti, Marni and Mag are going to get ugly when I tell you to run, run. You understand."

"Yeah. Rotti might try to hurt Miss Mag or Miss Marni. If something happens do I still hafta wait till I'm fifteen?"

"Yes."

A week before Marni and Nathan had been talking on the phone together. Somehow the subject of repossessions and his interest in them had come up and Miss Marni had reamed Nathan for saying he could start training when he was thirteen. He'd been eavesdropping.

"_Nathan, don't you know how to say no to a child."_

"_I thought you always say yes to a child because saying no could hurt their psyche."_

"_Where did you hear that!"_

"_I don't remember."_

"_Nathan Wallace you need to tell him that he cannot start training until he's at the very least fifteen. I realize that children these days are forced to grow and mature faster but that's not right and we shouldn't be part of the problem! Go now or I won't talk to you any longer."_

And he had done as Miss Marni wanted. Actually it was sort of a relief. Maybe the whole incident had been a bout of temporary insanity on both their parts but it had established where Matt was determined to go with his life and he was still learning stuff about medicine which still somehow held his interest.

They spotted Mag with the Largo siblings. All three were in some spat about popcorn. Matt rolled his eyes. Those three were trying to be around. Mag turned her full attention on Nathan.

"Rotti will be back in a few seconds as soon as he's done talking to the news reporters. Marni called only a minute or so ago to tell me she was almost to Sanitarium Square."

"Good. So what's the plan Mag?"

"I don't want to spoil the finale of tonight's Genetic Opera. You'll have to watch my performance all the way through. Try not to fall asleep."

"Blind Mag to the stage, Blind Mag to the stage," a female voice said over the PA.

"That's my cue. Just tell the man at the ticket counter your names and he'll let you in."

"Thanks, Mag," replied Nathan.

She gave him a winning smile and walked off. Nathan quirked a brow at the three siblings who were now wrestling on the dirt ground as though to ask himself if he should do anything about them. He shrugged his shoulders and walked past them, Matt immediately followed.

There was nothing quite like the Genetic Opera to make Matt feel totally out of place. Dancers of every shape and size stood on platforms and were swaying their hips and twirling around. An orchestra was busy tuning their instruments, a somewhat pleasant sound. The upper crust of society had turned out in their best designer dresses and suits for the occasion. Each a proud recipient of many a surgery, some procedures were obvious, some were subtle and some were positively ridiculous. A skinny woman with a huge butt walked by them, she was a perfect example of the last. Their seats were in the front row across the aisle from the Largos. Marni was no where to be seen and for some odd reason Rotti looked like the proverbial cat that ate the canary. That scared Matt more than anything ever had before. Rotti might have done something to Marni. He didn't want to think about it so he turned his focus to the stage.

Violins began playing a somber tune then were replaced by fast paced drums to which guitar was quickly added then the violins started up again. During all this Blind Mag was lowered to the stage on wires. She was dresses in what looked like funeral clothes but there was a split in the dress that showed off one long porcelain leg.

"_I see a red door, and I want it painted black,  
>No colors anymore, I want them to turn black,<br>I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes,  
>I have to turn my head until my darkness goes.<em>

_I see a line of cars, and they're all painted black,_  
><em>With flowers and my love, both never to turn back,<em>  
><em>I see people turn their heads and quickly look away,<em>  
><em>Like a newborn baby it just happens every day.<em>

_I look inside myself and see my heart is black,_  
><em>I see my red door and must have it painted black,<em>  
><em>Maybe then I'll fade away and not have to face the facts,<em>  
><em>It's not easy facing up when your whole world is black.<em>

_No more will my green sea go turn a deeper blue,_  
><em>I could not foresee this thing happening to you."<em>

She began vocalizing to the song for a couple of seconds then,

_"I want it black, as black as night,_  
><em>As black as coal, as black as death,<em>  
><em>I wanna see the sun blotted out in the sky.<em>

_I want it painted, painted, painted, painted black."_

And while she sang that the background singers sang,

_"I want it black, black as coal,  
>As black as ice, as black as death,<br>I wanna see the sun, blotted out in the sky..."_

Then Blind Mag sang the last line, 

"_I want it painted_...", then spoke the word, "black."

Resounding applause rang throughout the theatre. People began standing up and when Nathan followed suit so did Matthew. His hands stung from clapping as hard as he was. The audience began to settle down and retake their seats. Matt, while very impressed by Blind Mag's singing, was glad to not have to clap anymore. Mag motioned for any murmur among the audience to stop.

"Thank you ladies and gentleman. I have a very special announcement I'd like to make to all of you. You may or may not know that my contract with GeneCo is about to run out. I was planning on other ventures but after careful consideration I have, just a little over an hour ago, signed a new contract with GeneCo to remain its spokeswoman and voice for awhile longer."

Cheers resounded throughout the hall, Matt didn't understand what Mag was talking about and Nathan sat frozen in the plush red chair. He looked positively horrified but Matt didn't know why for. Matt looked back up at the stage and noticed for the first time that Marni was standing in one of the wings of the back stage. He felt Nathan should be informed of this.

"Nathan," he whispered while poking his arm, "Nathan, Miss Marni's back stage. You wanna go say hi or something. Hello, Nathan, don't you wanna talk to Miss Marni?"

Nathan slowly looked down at him, "Huh?"

Matt rolled his eyes, "Miss Marni's back stage."

"She is?"

"I only said so a hundred times or more. Where were you?"

"Oh," he said as he looked back to the stage, "in a little place called thunderstruck."

"Whatever," replied Matt in typical flippant teenage fashion.

After the show had ended officially after a surprisingly terse speech from Rotti, Nathan and Matt went backstage. Mag and Marni were chatting happily with one another in the doorway of Mag's dressing room. Rotti and his children were no where in sight.

"Mag," interrupted Nathan quietly, "why did you do that?"

She looked over at him and smiled sadly, "I believe true friends should be willing to sacrifice for one another and besides I do love to sing."

Marni looked Nathan with a frown, "She did it for us. Rotti's agreed to let me go now."

Nathan sighed and slumped over some. He took a deep breath and stood straight again, "Marni, I want to ask you something. Something important," he reached into the pocket of his suit pants and when he pulled his hand out something was grasped in his hand. He opened his palm and asked, "Marni, will you marry me?" In his palm was a ring of gold with a small diamond set atop it.

Marni fell to her knees and between happy sobs said, "Yes! Yes Nathan, I will marry you."

It was Matt's turn to be thunderstruck. When had this happened? When did Nathan and Marni fall in love?

"Umm, so that's what you went out and bought the other day," he said uncomfortably, "What am I going to do while you guys are on your honeymoon?"

"Don't worry," said Mag, "You can stay with me."

"Sounds good to me."

Both he and Mag looked over to see Nathan and Marni kissing. He couldn't help but smile at seeing them both so happy. The wedding itself was a small but joyous affair. Marni wore a simple wedding dress and Nathan wore a tux that he'd rented. He just sat there and watched the two be happy. Somehow Rotti ended up on the guest list and there he was scowling when they weren't looking and smiling warmly when they were. His dislike for the man increased with every passing second. Marni dragged him onto the dance floor during the father-daughter dance saying she could be her father's stand in because he was too sick to come to the wedding. Nathan and Marni opened wedding gifts, danced and cut the cake together. Apparently quite the relationship had blossomed between them over the phone and during the occasional times Mag would invite them over so Marni could check on Matt. He never did notice just how little checking she was doing of him. To think it had all happened right under his nose. He felt a little stupid for not seeing it before.

About a month later there was good news, bad news and worse news. After being sick with a hereditary blood disease for a year Marni's father finally died after a long and difficult battle. He would never forget the day they got the call. She cried and cried all night. He and Nathan did their best to comfort her but anyone with eyes could see a little part of her had died. The good news came about a week later and seemed to brighten Mrs. Marni back up. She was pregnant. They couldn't have been happier and even Matt found himself wondering what the baby would be like. About a month into the pregnancy the worse news came. Mrs. Marni had the hereditary disease her father had had. Apparently it passed from father to daughter. Nathan was devastated. He threw himself into his work to find a cure. It got to a point where he and Marni, who was quickly worsening, hardly ever saw him anymore. He kept saying he was close to a cure.

One day Matt was talking with Marni and somehow the subject of Nathan came up. She'd told him that she wanted him to come home. She didn't care if she died. She just wanted him to be with her. Her concern was clearly not with herself as she spoke constantly of whether she would live long enough to deliver Shiloh. He hoped she would. Like Mrs. Marni and Nathan, he loved her already and she hadn't even been born yet.

The day Shiloh was born could easily have been described as a nightmare. He didn't know how it happened but instead of curing her Nathan's cure killed her. He didn't blame him for her death. There was so much blood. He'd come home from a friend's house to find their home surrounded by police. He pushed through them, meeting resistance all the way to the room Nathan had converted to a clean room for Mrs. Marni as she became sicker and frailer. The minute Nathan spotted him something warm was placed in his arms and he walked off with Rotti.

It was Shiloh. She'd been wrapped in a white bloodied blanket and was fast asleep. He spent most of night with her in his arms. When she'd wake up she'd look up at him like he didn't belong there. After awhile she started crying. He figured she must be hungry because he knew he sure was. There was a box of baby formula in the kitchen that had been bought for later after Shiloh stopped breastfeeding. He took her upstairs and somehow figured out how to make the formulae using only one arm. He'd have patted himself on the back if he didn't have a baby in one arm and a bottle in the other. He'd yet to figure out just what had happened down there, what had happened to Mrs. Marni. Nathan found him in the kitchen about an hour later.

"What happened?"

Nathan looked on the verge of tears as he answered, "I thought that I had a cure for Marni. I was so sure. I don't know what went wrong but it killed her. I only had time enough to save Shiloh. All that blood you saw, it was Marni's."

He was too numb to cry and too hardened to feel the stab of pain in the soul he still argued didn't exist in him. He looked down at Shiloh, the only thing left of the woman who'd become a second mother to him. He knew then and there that he had to protect her. If any danger ever came her way it would be imperative that he stop it in its tracks. He'd teach her how to defend herself, too. It made becoming a repo-man all that more important. The training would give him the skill he needed to keep Shiloh safe. Nathan looked at him like he should have all the answers and he felt compelled to say something after he handed Shiloh to him.

"Look, Nathan, I know at my age I'm one to talk but I get it. I get what you're going through right now. You gotta keep… pushing. You don't stop living cause' someone you love dies. 'Sides, you got Shiloh to worry bout'. She's gonna need her dad."

He smiled bitterly, "You're right, of course. I just don't know how I'm going to go on without Marni."

"I asked myself that a lot after Mom and Dad died. I'm still here. I've been where you are now."

"I know you don't quite have the vocabulary but I understand what you're trying to communicate to me. Thank you Matt."

Shiloh cooed in her father's arms. Father and daughter locked eyes for what must have been the first time. Everything had changed for them but they knew in their hearts that there was a way they could make it through. Somehow they'd get past this loss. Matt, however, didn't anticipate the lengths Nathan would go to in his own attempts to protect Shiloh.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Sorry this was so long coming (I hope you're still interested in this story) but Spring Break is coming up so I'll be able to do more writing without the inconveinence of school. The song is "Looking for Angels" by Skillet. Read and REVIEW :) **

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><p>Chapter 14: Looking For Angels<p>

_In the midst of the most painful faces  
>Angels show up in the strangest of places<em>

Graverobber knew there was something wrong that night. He wasn't sure quite what it was, but he could feel in his gut something bad was about to happen. Business was booming as had been the trend of late, and even his competitors were doing well enough that they didn't glare at him as they passed by him. He sat atop his dumpster as his girls and customers milled around. Most were high on Z and others were waiting to get the same way. He observed it all from the sidelines, not feeling up to getting involved with them. Shilo seemed to be the same as she had been before, but she'd only had one session with Galena and he knew these things took time. Patience, however, was not one of his virtues.

Indigo looked up at him with concern only to turn her attention back to the man who couldn't keep his hands off her. She'd been doing that a lot. Maybe it was just that obvious that he was worried. He hadn't felt his usual jovial self since Shilo's whole personality mess started. If he had thought he had the right he might have said a prayer for her. Sometimes he did anyway, though he was sure no one heard. His hand went to his temple where a headache had quickly developed and spread across his forehead and eyes. Tonight the street noises he was used to seemed too loud. He swore that if a pin dropped on the street the next block over he probably would've been able to hear it loud and clear.

He sighed, "Indi, I'm calling it quits early. Collect my portion of the money from the girls tonight," he jumped off of his dumpster, "and don't try to leave out your portion again. You understand?"

She rolled her eyes at him like teenage girl being lectured by her father, "I won't Graves, yeesh. You goin' home to your girl?"

"Yeah, I'm getting worried."

She snorted derisively, "A person would hafta be blind to not see you're worried."

He walked down the sidewalk with a purposeful stride. He knew he needed to get back home and the knot of worry in his chest made him devise awful scenarios of horrible things that could happen to Shilo if he didn't get back there soon. He looked around for a dump-truck to get a free ride from but none were in sight.

Anxiety churned his stomach and he just couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched. Every inch of his skin felt like it was on fire from the invisible eyes staring at him. Those eyes were probably as real as some kid's imaginary friend. He was getting himself worked up for nothing but years spent as in repo had taught him one thing. Your gut is usually right. In fact, your gut is probably smarter than you and you are an idiot for not listening to it more often. He was an idiot for not listening to it more often.

He was passing by a convenience store when he heard the click of a gun in the distance. He tensed up and turned in the direction it had come from which was just the right time and right movement to avoid getting his brains splattered on the sidewalk.

He took a sharp turn and ran down an alleyway, having to jump over and go around trash cans and homeless people. He heard heavy footsteps behind him and splashes whenever his attacker ran through a puddle of water. Whoever he was he was clumsy and noisy. It was like he wanted Graverobber to know he was being chased. He turned another corner and ran down an alleyway and out onto the sidewalk where he was met by another man clad in black from head to toe. He turned his head to see the other man right behind him.

He was breathing heavily when he asked, "So, what can I do for you guys? Don't tell me you're the police or something?"

"No," answered the one in front of him. His companion, who had been behind the Z dealer, walked past Graverobber and stood beside the man who had his gun trained on his head.

"Do you have names?"

"That isn't important," said the one who'd been chasing him beforehand.

Graverobber attempted to take another step back but one of them brandished his weapon and he stopped in his tracks, "Okay, then I guess I'll have to take the more direct approach." Before either man could react, Graverobber had pushed their guns to the side. He grabbed each by the head and pushed them down onto the cement, each of their skulls making a satisfying crack sound when they collided with the sidewalk. He straightened up and wiped his hands off on his jacket.

He could have kicked himself for what happened next. He felt the pain but he never heard the bullet. He'd taken it in the bicep and he turned in the direction he thought it might have come from. A hand went of the wounded area to staunch the blood flow and keep pressure on it. Every nerve throughout his body pulsed with pain but he wasn't going to panic; he'd been shot before. His eyes scanned the area as he sought out his assailant. Another bullet whizzed past his head. These guys had poor aim if they were trying to kill him. There was no sense in staying still. A moving target was much harder to kill. He ran in a zig-zag with the third man right behind him. Blood escaped his hand's hold as the blood pumped through his veins. He chanced a glance back at his pursuer who, like the others, was clad in black from head to toe. Who were these guys?

He was breathing raggedly. His legs hurt. Graverobber managed to run a block, but in spite of his pursuer's poor aim, the guy was much faster than his companions had been. Finally he couldn't take the strain anymore. He'd lost a lot of blood. He stopped in the middle of the street he was running down. At this hour it was thankfully without traffic. He turned to face the would-be, or perhaps soon-to-be, assassin. If he was going to go out then he was going to go out unafraid.

His assailant aimed his gun and there was no doubt in Graverobber's mind that he'd shoot him right through the head this time around. He glared back in defiance of his fate and…the man fell to the ground and a pool of blood formed under his head. His mouth gaped open in shock. Where had the shot come from? Who would save him on these streets? He took a few tentative steps towards the body and then a few quick steps to finish the trek. The bullet had indeed gone through his head. There was a bloodied hole in his head on the side that was facing up. Whoever had shot this guy had to have very good aim, aim worthy of a repo-man. He looked all around and up and down but found no person or evidence suggesting a person had been there. From where he stood everything about the street looked the same as it always did. He remembered that he was losing blood when he felt his head go light but it was far too late a few steps past the body later he passed out.

He floated in and out of consciousness as the minutes passed. He could sometimes hear a voice, for some reason he couldn't shake the feeling that he should recognize it, talking. The second time he was semi-conscious, a hand pushed him down when he tried to sit up. Though he never would admit it to anyone by the third or fourth time he woke up he was decently sure a few stray tears escaped the confines of his eyes from the burning pain in his bicep. A face, unidentifiable, hovered above his. The words "Good Samaritan" cropped up in his mind. At one point it felt like he was being picked up and moved.

He was not sure how much time had passed but did know he was in an entirely unfamiliar place when he cracked open his eyes. Dull pain throbbed from his bicep to the rest of his arm. He felt like he'd slept for eternity. He got his elbows under himself, gritting his teeth from the pain, and sat up. Upon further inspection of his surroundings he noted he was in a bedroom with no furniture, it was still night and he was sitting on a bare mattress that had no frame to support it. Definitely the slums, anyone would know a room in an apartment in the slums of Crucifixus when they saw it. Even if they were blind the scent of garbage and death and the sound of screams and maniacal laughter would be enough to identify the area. He felt his bandaged, injured bicep and experience told him that someone experienced had removed the bullet. That left the matter of how he got to be in the room in the first place. He remembered someone helping, likely the same person who cared for his wound, after he collapsed and he could sort of recall being moved but for the life of him he couldn't remember getting put in this room.

He got off the mattress a little too quickly for his weakened body. He stood for a few moments while he regained his balance having nearly toppled over from the dizziness that set in upon standing. He picked up his jacket, which had been haphazardly dropped on the floor, and slipped it on. He cringed at the movement from his arms that action had required. It hurt like he'd been shot in the same place all over again. He walked out of the room, staying sharp in case he ran into an assailant of some sort. The bedroom door led to a hallway which led to a living room where there was a door to exit the apartment from. From what he could tell no one really lived in the apartment or at least that's what he thought until he smelled food. Maybe there was someone living here. Well, he wasn't going to stick around to thank them even though he was grateful. He needed to get home to Shilo and fast. Those assassins that came after him might also have their sights on her and considering there had been three there was a good chance there were _more_ than just those three.

After he got down to ground level he hitched a ride on one of the garbage trucks. Where had those things been before? On the trip home he tried to remember what happened after he'd collapsed. That when the voice, so like his own, came back to him. He cut off the memory in its tracks. He didn't care if he'd been saved by the king of England. It didn't matter, he was alive. He jumped off the dump truck as it arrived at the cemetery. He went immediately to Marni's tomb. He ran through the passage that led to the house as quickly as possible. He really hoped that he didn't start bleeding again. He burst through the exit while remaining prepared for a fight should anyone be waiting to jump him on the other end. Rather unceremoniously he tripped face first onto the floor in the first few steps out of the passage.

When he got back up and turned around he was perplexed when he discovered a dead body had been what he'd tripped over. It took him only a second or two to realize it was another black clad assailant. He'd been shot in the head. Point blank. The kid couldn't have done that. He looked around the living room. There was one other body with a similar injury next to the stairs. Wait, Shilo ! He took the stair two steps at a time and ran to her bedroom door. He flung it open expecting the worst. Was it wrong that he was relieved she wasn't there? But, where was she?

"Kid! Hey, kid!" He called out then listened. He heard a cry come from somewhere near her desk…where there was a door that led into her bathroom. She had to be in there. He hurried inside. Bracing himself for what he might find purely out of instinct, he looked and found her curled in a fetal position in the bathroom whimpering and crying.

"Are they gone, Graverobber?"

"Gone? They're dead as door nails."

She looked up. Her eyes were red from crying and it was apparent she'd been ready to go to bed when the attackers came because she wasn't wearing a wig.

"Dead?"

"Yeah, both of them were shot in the head. The guy who did it must be some marksman because I doubt he could get too close to those guys. What I'd like to know is how he got into the house. I'd deck him for coming into the house and thank him for saving you."

"B-but… What the heck are you talking about?" She asked and stood up in the tub to put her hands on her hips.

"Uh, they're dead. Someone killed them."

She looked truly confused and he took the opportunity presented to help her out of the tub. The look on her face persisted as he led her to her bed where she sat down. He didn't understand what there was to be confused about. Other than the identity of their, perhaps, mutual guardian angel the whole thing was pretty cut and dry. He turned to leave but she caught hold of his jacket sleeve and turned him around.

"But it was you I heard yelling at them. I know you voice anywhere."

It couldn't be.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: The ending of this chapter seems kind of weak and half-hearted but it was the way it wanted to be written so I didn't argue. Actually this whole chapter is sort of weird. It's written in kinda-drabbles and short vignettes. At one point Matt is narrating in the first person and other people put in their two cents on Matt. I did it this way because I wanted to get through Matt's teen years and early twenties as quickly as I could so I could get to the juicier parts of the story. Including Xerxes. Oh, and the History of Zydrate interlude I metioned months and eons ago. It's half done. My co-author for that interlude is easily distracted and my muse for this story has been a little quiet on me. You can thank my Mom, however, for buying me the Repo! soundtrack for an early birthday gift. It inspired me to really start writing for this again. Anyway, read, REVIEW (because you love me for putting up a chapter and want to let me know) and Enjoy :)**

PS: I hope to have chapter 16 up by Thursday of next week but no promises.

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><p>Chapter 15: High School Never Ends<p>

_What happens in high school may not define your future but for Matt, it defined some of the finer points of his past that would bring him to his present…_

On the First Day of Ninth Grade- Age 14

High school intimidated a lot of freshmen on the first day. It was understandable when you knew none of the teachers, had no idea how hard the classes were going to be and, like some, knew absolutely no one in the school. To Matt, however, it was just another day in the life. He knew plenty of people in his grade but liked very few. More specifically there was only one he really tolerated, Jo Abernathy. She was insane. That was fine by him but he really wished she'd give up her endeavor to talk the vending machine into giving her a soda. People were giving them funny looks and while he took no offense it was still annoying. Especially since this was only the first day.

She looked over had him glaring and said, "I wish they'd get vending machines that speak English in this school."

"So do I," he agreed, "Lunch is going to end soon, you know. I wish you wouldn't yell at the vending machines though, people stare."

"People always stare, let them."

Normally he didn't pay the things Jo said much mind but for some reason that one statement stayed with him for the rest of the school day. People would always stare and he was about as normal as Jo. People would stare regardless of whether she was with him or not. He was just as unusual as her and had people been aware of what he'd be doing as an after school job in a little less than a year they would definitely stare then. So was it as a big a deal as he was making it. No. Let them stare. They'd probably stare for the rest of his life but he was going to care about it. Maybe just to spite them he'd stare back.

Mrs. Stetson: Age 14, period 2 class Biology

Mrs. Stetson honestly didn't know what to say to Matthew's guardian as she walked to her classroom. Matthew was a good student but somehow he was failing her class and seemed not to care in the least. All he'd be doing during class was going over the chapter on human biology. She wasn't sure what to make of that and it was likely the only chapter he knew anything about. Actually he seemed to know an abnormal amount of things about human biology and anatomy but currently they were studying animals. She thought that knowledge might have something to do with the fact that his guardian was a doctor named Nathan Wallace, well known for his work at GeneCo on some rather famous clientele.

As she walked in the room the first one she notice was Matt, you couldn't miss that pallor anywhere. She wondered how anyone got that pale. He was comparable to a fresh corpse. Beside him was a gray haired man with black framed glasses who looked positively…defeated. She did think it was that bad. Matt was doing decently in most of his other classes and the only problem was how easily distracted he was.

"Hello Dr. Wallace, I'm Vivian."

He shook her outstretched hand and said, "Just call me Nathan. What's the problem?"

"Well, most obviously, it's his grade in this class however the underlying problem is that he's very easily distracted."

"Yes, well we've talked about that and- Matt put the model down- I think we've come to an understanding. Now, I have to get home-"

"I am not done talking to you about this." He was acting like one of her students, not letting her get a word in edgewise and dismissing himself to do whatever he pleased. Didn't Nathan know this was a serious problem with Matthew? Well, if he didn't she was certainly going to impress it upon him with a force. She was sick of parents and guardians not taking an interest in their children's education. "Mr. Wallace, I sympathize with any concerns you may have involving your home but Matt's grade in this class is important. He's very easily distracted by other chapters in the book, so much so that he pays no mind to the chapter we are studying and then fails his test on the chapter he wasn't looking at. He's a bright young man and it's completely negligent of you not to pay his problems more attention!"

"Lay off him, will you!"

She and Nathan turned to Matt in surprise at his indignant exclamation. How dare he, Mrs. Stetson thought and said aloud, "Matt, you will not speak so rudely to me."

His features contorted in momentary anger before he regained his composure, "Listen, ma'am, you don't know what's going in his life right now but trust me when I say it's a lot more important to him than me and that's okay. That's how it should be, in fact.

Mrs. Stetson didn't have anything to say to that so she just let them leave. Those words remained a mystery until she was later on informed of the loss recently experience by Dr. Wallace and that he was busy trying to raise both Matt and his nearly one year old daughter, Shilo.

Bully: Age 14 between period 3 English and period 4 Algebra I

Most people left Matt to his own devices. No one was really interested in getting to know the creepy kid who looked like he had one foot in the grave, especially since he hung around Crazy Jo. But there's always someone who had to pick on the one person everyone else is smart enough to leave alone. Of course Burt was not the brightest light around so it surprised no one when he started terrorizing Matt. It was easy to tell when someone was loosing their patience but Matt endured longer than most. It was when Burt started picking on both him and Jo one day that he decked him. He'd lost his patience with Burt. No big surprise and the prerequisite rumor that Matt had a thing for Jo went around the school until people got bored with it. Nathan only had one question for his ward. Why did it take picking on both him and Jo for Matt to stand up for himself? Like most answers he got from the teen his answer left the claims medic with a severe case of confusion.

"I figured I could wait a little longer until I could get Burt alone to beat the crud out of him but when he started picking on both of us…well, I wasn't sure how Jo felt about waiting. I figured it didn't really matter since we were in between two classes so I punched him."

Why Matt did the things he did was a mystery to most including poor Nathan who had nary a clue what to do with the unpredictably violent but surprisingly level-headed teen.

Welcome to the Club: Age 15

Fox, Cowboy, Doc, and Poppet would never have guessed they'd be taking orders from Nathan Wallace of all people. He'd started out only taking the occasional side job but after his wife's death he went into repo full time. Eventually he was given the position of head repo-man. However when he brought in Matthew they were all a little too stunned by this presumptuous act. Worse still, Rotti agreed to letting the boy be trained for repo. They were not happy. Not at first. But Matthew proved to be an eager and talented student. It was like he was made for the job. The day he nearly killed Doc was the day they all knew he was ready but Nathan forced them to wait another few months until he was fifteen. They wanted him on the streets ASAP but knew when not to push the issue with their leader. Now the time had come. Their disturbed young friend was about to become the youngest to ever take up this job and while most people would cringe at the idea of a fifteen year old doing the job they did they were completely accepting of the situation. Maybe it was the maturity he showed, he knew what they did was not fun and games, he knew it was serious business. It might also have had something to do with his talent for assassination. He was as deadly as any of them. Maybe it was them and the entire planet that was crazy for letting a kid do this but nevertheless he was one of them now.

"What we do," Nathan said that night in the training room, "is, while morally objectionable to some, a service to people who need those organs and are willing to pay for them. Remember that. What we do is right." But Matt couldn't quite shake the way his voice sounded. It wasn't that of Nathan's, it was the Repo-Man's.

I'm Desperate. I Mean Available: Age 15

If anyone asks me why I started dating Carmella Largo you can bet I'll give em' nothing short of a sarcastic comment, I mean we are talking about me here but what I usually tell people is about as far from the truth as you can get. I guess what started it all was the Valentine's Dance. See, I was getting paid for a repo one day in Rotti's office when in walks the queen of the world herself. Fifteen and it looks like she's had somewhere between four to six surgeries just on her face. She looked really depressed but I couldn't tell why by the look on her face which wasn't unusual. Apparently going to a fancy private school had its downs. She'd been waiting all week to get asked to her school's dance and not a single guy had asked her out. She was really ticked about it but it took mine and Rotti's keen eyes to see that the temper masked how much that hurt her. I really wanted to say that it really wasn't any wonder that she hadn't been asked out. She was ten times as snobby and selfish as the other children in her school and it made her real annoying to even them. Sure she's hot… in a Bride of Frankenstein sort of way but hot. Nathan always says that's my hormones talking. I agree and I like what my hormones are saying. So I asked her to the dance, partly to shut her up and partly to see if I wouldn't get lucky. Well, that didn't happen after the dance but she did ask if I'd like to take her to the movies and I said yes. After the first couple of dates we decided we were official. Still having no blasted luck but I'm patient when I need to be.

Largo No More: Age 15

"Amber Sweet! What kinda name is Amber Sweet?"

"A stage name you moron!" Amber shouted with her hands on her hips.

Honestly! Just when he was about to get her in bed she decides to interrupt a slowly escalating game of lip wrestling to tell him some stupid stage name she'd come up with. He'd been really trying to be the perfect boyfriend for this moment to happen and then she opened her big mouth and ruined the mood. At this point he wanted no more of Carmella in any manner, shape or form. He was sick of her at this point. He had more than enough of all her whining and complaining. She was so self-absorbed it was sickening.

"Of course, I was considering Heather Sweet before but it just didn't sound quite right. Y'know what I mean?"

If all he wanted her for was her body than there really wasn't any reason to be her boyfriend. Considering her personality he could probably have her body more easily if he wasn't her boyfriend. Not to mention he was sick to death of all her "we have to have a relationship" bull. Somehow this was the final straw. It made sense. He'd wanted her for a long time and just when it looked like he might get what he wanted she interrupts.

"That's it Carmella. We're through."

"What!" She screeched and shot up like a bullet from her sitting position on his bed, "All because I told you my stage name!"

"For a lot of reasons Carmella, not just that," he said then got up as well.

"Fine!" she shouted and nearly took the door off its hinges when she swung it open and marched out.

"What," he said to the empty room, "it wasn't like I was expecting her to be my soul mate or something."

Word On the Street: Age 16

Two men huddle together in an alleyway. Trying to gain warmth from shared body heat but having no luck. The fire got put out by the rain and it looked like another was on its way. These two men, Mason and Lyle, were old friends who heard a lot of the word on the streets. The current topic of conversation had them gossiping like two old biddies

"There's a new repo-man on the streets," said Mason.

"That's what I heard, you wan' know what else I 'eard?" Lyle asked conspiratorially

"What?" Asked a curious Mason

"That he's just a kid," Lyle replied like it was the secret to eternal life.

"No. GeneCo wouldn't send out a kid," Mason replied aghast.

"Yes," said Lyle with unwavering certainty.

Mason laughed loudly, "The kid must be a monster!"

The Wolf: Age 16

"You're mask; you altered it to look like the head of a wolf. Why?" Growled the Repo-Man, not angry but amused.

"I figured I had to have a persona of my own. Like the others have. I thought a wolf was a pretty good comparison to the way we hunt down are targets."

"Wolves hunt in packs," Nathan corrected.

"Yeah, but we are a pack," replied Matt smugly.

"I see," the Repo-Man snarled approvingly, "Well, it is a pretty imitating visage. No doubt it would easily awake a person's primal fear of wild animals. It could be a very effective tool of intimidation. Yes, it was a very good idea to have this done to your helmet."

"I thought so too."

Vicious: Age 16

Kimi never had a chance. Ninety day delinquent on organ payments gets you immediate repo treatment, no anesthesia used. There was little else that satisfied him as much as watching them die. A man in the same situation as dear Kimi was the reason for his parents' death. Just ask Batman, there's nothing quite as painful as losing two people you love in such a violent way. And The Wolf was out there to make sure these people didn't get to keep what was no longer theirs. Those vital organs could go to those who needed them, who would actually make their payments instead of spending on the frivolous like little Miss Kimi had if that ring on her finger told him anything. He sliced her throat with absolute delight and proceeded to cut into her abdomen with mounting enjoyment. And when the life faded from her eyes and she was nothing more than an empty shell in more ways than one he felt the pain in his heart ease a little.

Matt was not someone who regularly read the newspapers and today was he was not in the mood to look at it. If he had, though, he might have seen Kimberly McKay's obituary. She was newlywed with a seven month old baby boy. She'd be buried with the only possession her long dead mother gave her, her engagement ring. Her husband was crushed. Her daughter was without a mother. The rest of the family was deep in grief. Kimi's father had to be put on suicide watch. As for Matt, he went to school with a smile on his face and a lightness of attitude he only felt after a repo.

Baby Sitting: Age 17

Felicia had been baby sitting Shilo Wallace since she was one. Sure the pay wasn't great and the house was in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by nothing. Shilo was such a sweet little girl that it made up for it. Not to mention Dr. Wallace's ward, Matt. The guy was macabre, he was pale as death and wore nothing but black and chains, but on him it was a look that made him just that much hotter. Shilo seemed to think he was the best thing since sliced bread. The minute he'd walk in the house after school she'd run right up to him and demand to be picked up. And boy did she have Matt wrapped around her finger because he complied immediately. He was at her beck and call on most days when he wasn't at work. Not that Felicia was particularly sure what his job was but it usually got him home before ten and left him with enough time to do his homework which he sped through. The worst part was that he still managed to get decent grades, she was jealous of that.

While he did his homework, Shilo would sit next to him at the dining table and play with her dolls. Felicia would sit next to Shilo and make sure she didn't get hurt somehow. When bedtime came around not long after they'd all had their dinner Shilo would refuse to put so much as a toe on the stairs until Matt had hugged her goodnight. Sometimes they'd both have to wrestle her into bed. That was unless Dr. Wallace had actually come home. Rarely did he arrive before eleven but on the nights when he did, Shilo would have his undivided attention. That still didn't stop Shilo from getting her hug from Matt, of course.

On days Matt had off, the three of them would go to the mall. Shilo would go into the jewelry stores to look at the gems that fascinated her. Matt would joke that Shilo was going to have to find herself a rich husband and Felicia would say something about Shilo only wanting to look at the jewelry because it was shiny. Maybe they'd go to a movie, rated G only unless they wanted to incur Nathan's wrath. They'd go to the book store and the movie stores. Shilo would take them to the clothing stores. Matt looked especially strange hanging around Claire's and the accessory store, Chic, but he endured all for Shilo. She always felt more like an intruder in their world but a tolerated one. She just enjoyed watching them together. It never failed to put a smile on her face.

Severed Ties: Age 17

Shilo squirmed in his arms in an attempt to find a place to rest her head. Matt could tell she was tired but he couldn't go up to bed until Nathan came home and he didn't like to have Shilo out of his sight when he was the only one in the house. He lay back in the recliner with Shilo on his chest. She seemed to have decided that the crook of his neck was a suitable pillow. He tried to relax his too taut muscles and steady his breathing but it wasn't easy. He was unbelievably nervous and Nathan was taking far too long getting home. The slow, steady breath that blew against his neck told him that Shilo had finally fallen asleep. The front door opened and Nathan walked in looking dog tired.

"Nathan, we need to talk," Matt said quietly.

"What is it, Matt?" Nathan whispered back.

"I'm leaving."

Nathan looked at him like he was fifty different shade of purple. "Why?"

"I…don't think I should stay around here. I need to get out on my own. I really do and I can't wait any more. Do you understand?"

Nathan inhaled deeply and exhaled quickly, "Okay, then I guess you intend to leave soon."

"In the next couple of days, yeah. It's not like I won't be here a lot anyway considering our job but I need to get away."

"Right, can I ask what brought this decision on?"

Matt was really dreading answering this question, "Because of you. I need to get away from you, your depression. And I don't approve of what you're doing but I can't stop you so I'm not gonna watch it anymore. I'm leaving."

"What I'm doing?"

"Keeping Shilo locked up in here. It won't protect her but I know you'll never see reason so I'm leaving. If Shilo hates me for this later it's justifiable. I'll miss you both."

Life Goes On: Age 18- 20

My schedule consists of this- age 18

Wake up, eat breakfast, go to school, eat dinner, do homework, go repo.

My schedule consists of this- age 19

Wake up, eat breakfast, work out, go to work, eat dinner, go repo all night long.

My schedule consists of this- Age 20

Wake up, eat breakfast, work out, go to work, eat dinner, go party, go repo the rest of the night.

It's a simple life and I love it. Usually.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Wow, it's been forever since I last updated this. So sorry. Heck, I'm not even sure if anyone's still interested but it'd be nice if you'd let me know. I'd have updated a lot sooner but school's been rough for the past month and well...things got neglected. Anyway, the song is owned by Linkin Park. So, read REVIEW (so I'll know to keep updating) and Enjoy :)**

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><p>Chapter 16: The Catalyst<p>

_Like memories in cold decay_

_Transmissions echoing away_

_Far from the world of you and I _

_Where oceans bleed into the sky_

"Graverobber? Graverobber? Earth to Graverobber?" But Shilo's voice was too distant and he was far too deep in thought to acknowledge her. He couldn't believe this, he really couldn't. It didn't seem possible but at the same time not entirely impossible.

"Graverobber what's wrong with you? Are you okay? Graverobber!"

"Huh? What?" He gasped.

"You spaced out," Shilo look thoroughly upset. He put a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to reassure her.

"Oh. I just thought of something bad, that's all. Go ahead, lie down and go to asleep."

She gave him an annoyed look, "Does it have to do with what happened?"

"Yeah, but don't worry about. I'll take care of everything."

She lay down but looked more than a little reluctant to do so. He heaved a heavy sigh then turned and walked out of the room. The door clicked as it closed behind him and he walked down the stairs to take care of their recently deceased guests. He really hoped this was as exciting as things were going to get. If they got any more exciting he'd probably die.

"_But it was you I heard yelling at them. I know your voice anywhere."_

It couldn't be. Why would he ever help him that much? How did he know he was staying with Shilo? Well, he might have found out where he was staying from the streets' rumor mills but he couldn't think of an answer to the first. There was only one person in the world that had a voice so close to his that even the kid would get confused. Xerxes. It was one of the strange things about him. You'd think there'd be more variance in pitch but… oh well. What he really didn't like was how easily Xerxes had gotten into the house. So what if he saved both him and Shilo, that didn't mean he wouldn't turn around and kill them. It was just how Xerxes was. Xerxes would act as your guardian angel one day and your worst nightmare the next. It was just how he had always operated.

He walked down the stairs slower than slow. His mind was in other places. In the past. In memories of pain and terror and a sense of hopelessness that no human being should ever have to experience. Xerxes saved him and Shilo. What could that mean? He didn't like being in debt to that particular person. It wasn't until he'd unceremoniously tripped over a body once again and fell flat on his face that he even remembered he was in Shilo's house, at the age of thirty and not being terrorized by a figure swathed in darkness.

"What is this, a running gag?" He muttered to himself as he got up.

Well, the bodies had to go. They wouldn't make good decoration not to mention they'd start stinking up the house soon enough. He grabbed the one he'd just tripped over by the collar and dragged the body behind him as he walked over the other dead man, grabbed him by the collar and dragged them both into the still open fireplace passageway. He'd decided to keep them in Nathan's work space until they were "ripe" for zydrate extraction and then he'd really get rid of them.

Then it struck him, these men probably had family even if they were working for dear Miss Sweet. If he knew what they looked like he could find out who they were and if he could find out who they were he could blackmail Amber by threatening to tell the families what had become of their beloved…insert familial relation here. This might be Shilo's ticket, and his, to true freedom. Without Amber Sweet looming ominously, the only thing she was good at, they'd be free to do as they pleased without having to look over their shoulders all the time.

They descended into the eerie stone corridor until they reached the stark white room where the GENcops bodies had been lined up side by side on the floor where they also awaited "ripeness". He laid the black clad assassins on the floor with the cops as well. With one hand grasping the top of each black mask, he pulled both off at once and cursed loudly. He wasn't sure whose idea this was, probably Rotti's as he doubted this to be the first time this was done, but their faces had been removed and replaced with featureless mask that only had holes for the eyes, mouth and nostrils. Even in death, Rotti was a thorn in his side.

As he headed back to the house he couldn't help but wonder at Xerxes motivation. This would have been the perfect opportunity to let him die. Instead he goes to the trouble of dragging him off the streets, removing the bullet and if he wasn't mistaken he even gone to the trouble of stitching the wound up before he wrapped it in gauze. What was his game, did he want to be the one to kill him and wouldn't let anyone else that honor. But then why save Shilo? What was the point? He was so confused and his wound hurt painfully. All he wanted to do was sleep…forever if he could.

So blackmail was out, at least when all these bodies were "ripe" enough he have quite the haul of z to sell on the streets. There was always a silver lining if you were willing to look for it. He trudged up the stairs like his feet weighed a thousand pounds. He could have sworn he heard his bed calling out to him. He pushed the door open, let his jacket slide to the floor, took all of two steps and fell on his bed which caused him to bounce up a little. He dragged the upper half of his body up so he could at least drag his pillow to him but when he stretched out his arm a horrible pain clamped down on his bicep and shot pain up and down the rest of his arm.

"Okay, no pillow. I can sleep like this."

His holo-phone went off. Someone was going to feel the Wolf's wrath when he answered that. He jerked his hand in front into his line of sight and pressed the answer button.

"What!"

"_Settle down, Wolfy-boy, I just wanted to make sure you got back home safe and sound."_

Xerxes.

"Yeah, I'm fine but I'd be better if I could get some sleep," Graverobber snarled.

"_Easy Kid, take it easy. I chased those last two to your house and took care of them there, I figured you wouldn't have a problem with clean-up_."

"Yeah, I already took care of it. Actually I'm grateful, now I have a little over half a dozen bodies that'll be 'ripe' soon. Should make me a lotta money." He couldn't help the sneer on his face even though he didn't even have a holo-photo of Xerxes to make faces at. "Why did you help me?"

"_I figured you could use the help. Besides, you looked so pathetic lying there I practically felt obligated to help you, Kid."_

"I don't need your help! No leave me alone and stay out of this house."

He hung up but he didn't even have the satisfaction of knowing he'd upset Xerxes with that. Xerxes could care less about Graverobber's anger towards him and, in truth, it was Graverobber who was no doubt the more upset of the two. He was never going to get to sleep now. His arm hurt, he was angry and he couldn't calm his racing thoughts long enough to fall asleep. He really hated Xerxes.

He pushed himself up onto the elbow of his good arm and hissed in pain as he maneuvered the injured arm into a more comfortable position. He slid off his bed over to his dresser where he pulled out some clothes for the next day. When he could think of nothing else to do he went down to the kitchen where he made himself a couple turkey sandwiches and sat down to watch the news.

A pair of reporters, one man and one woman, sat behind a desk with smiles plastered on their heavily altered faces, "Good evening Crucifixus. I'm Shawn McLeod."

"And I'm Francine Saunders and this is the evening edition of the news."

"The big news tonight is the mysterious explosion at GeneCo. CEO Amber Sweet has offered no explanation but assures the media that nothing is wrong and that all surgeries will continue uninterrupted. Francine?"

"Well, Shawn, it seems that once again the notorious Graverobber has evaded capture by police. But that's not the whole story. It seems that a few of the officers that were after him have disappeared. A lot of mystery going around these days, huh? These officers were hired by Amber Sweet in an attempt to redeem herself of her past as a Z addict by getting rid of the most prosperous dealer on the streets."

Cops? That stupid woman! She hired cops. She hired cops and Xerxes killed them. And he had no doubt in his mind that he'd be blamed. Why was it that whenever it rained it poured acid on him? He was going to have to be ten times more careful than before. His holo-phone went off again.

"What?" He asked in a subdued voice.

"_Don't worry, Kid. It's all taken care of."_

"Xer-"

But he'd hung up before he could ask him what he was up to. The news had moved on to celebrity news but when he picked up the remote to shut it off, Starla Meeks (of the celebrity fashion no-no's segment) was suddenly interrupted by a now frowning Shawn and Francine.

"Um, Francine?"

Her lower lip trembled but she found her voice quickly enough, "We've just received a note… from King Xerxes. This hasn't happened in ten years. We'd thought he was dead but one of our cameramen recognized the handwriting so it's definitely from the King of the Streets. He's said that he killed the missing cops and left the rest to The Graverobber. Shawn?"

"Our hearts go out to those officers family and friends. The police, until now, had thought him dead but clearly he's been lying low. What caused this? We don't know but we will make it our mission to find out. Back to Starla with celebrity news."

He hit the redial on his wrist holo-phone.

"Xerxes!"

"_What, Kid. I just saved you a whole lot of trouble. Listen, it's better if they focus on me, not you. Wanna know why?"_

"Because they don't even know if you still look the same or not so they'll have their eyes out for everyone. And because you're the only one with any right to me."

" _Glad you admit to that._"

"I didn't mean it like that! You listen to me, I want you to disappear. No more notes, no dealing. These streets are mine, Old Man, and I'm gonna keep them!" If Xerxes thought he was going to take back his territory he had another thing coming to him entirely. "I don't need your help and I don't want your help. If you think you can just reappear after ten years and take back the territory I've gained without you here I'll kill you!"

"_So quick to fall back on the way of repo, hmm? My name still carries weight around here Kid, you remember that! I was king of these streets while you were still in diapers and I can and will take it back if I want to. I thought we learned our lesson about being a cocky idiot._"

Graverobber grimaced from phantom pains that were nearly ten years old. He hated Xerxes. He hated that that man _could_ take back the streets and that he hadn't been an authority on them long enough to earn the kind of power and loyalty King Xerxes had. Most of all he hated the way he could remember everything that happened on that day. The day he messed up, the one time he messed up and paid for it dearly because Xerxes wasn't merciful and he wasn't kind. He was highly disturbed and extremely cruel. He hadn't stood a chance but at the same time he couldn't and wouldn't change a thing about what had happened in those ten days. What had happened had been a defining point in his life. The most defining point in his life had been Xerxes. Sad but true. He'd hoped he'd never have the displeasure of meeting him again but it didn't look like that's how things were going to work out.

"Like I said, disappear…or I'll come after you."

"_I'm not going anywhere, Kid."_

"Then I guess I'll be seeing you soon. You remember Danil Charnell? Well he kindly provided me with your current address. Just wait till I find you."

"_I'm looking forward to it, Kid."_

"So am I."


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Wow, it's been awhile, hasn't it. Well, I'm finally posting after A. being too busy to write and B. having rabid writer's block. I just want you (anyone left reading this) to know that from now on chapters will be posted the second week of every month. Not necessarily the same day of the week but always the second week. Read, enjoy and REVIEW :) Song is by Nichole Nordeman.**

Chapter 17: Legacy

_I want to leave a legacy_

_How will they remember me?_

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><p><em>And he'd wonder years later why no one ever told him there were monsters disguised as men as much as he was a man disguised as a monster…<em>

He honestly thought that he was better than this. He thought he was invincible. He thought nothing could get to him. He thought he could never break under pressure. He thought he was doing such a noble work. After all, it was better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven. Wasn't it?

Those delusions shattered when he met King Xerxes.

His vision was blurry as unwanted tears welled up in his eyes. The pain was overwhelming and made every muscle tense up unbearably. He didn't know how much longer he'd be able to stay conscious and was only vaguely aware of the other person in the room digging the heel of their boot into his side.

The deep voice that spoke was smooth like velvet, "Look at the mighty repo-man, brought so low by a mere drug lord like me. I nearly lost my life to one of you once. I had to abandon everything just to keep safe. Tell me, do you realize just how awful what you do is?"

He groaned in pain by way of a response.

"No? Proud to the end, I see. Let's see the face behind the mask, hmm?"

A hand appeared in his line of vision and it reached out and grasped him by the throat. He was pulled up and shoved into the concrete wall so fast his head spun. His back stung from the impact. He hadn't really been able to see the man yet because the x-rays built into the lenses of his mask were flickering on and off due to some damage his gracious host had inflicted to them during their fight when Wolf's head collided with the man's fist. The most he'd seen of his companion so far was his black booted feet. The mask hindered his vision for a second or two as it was pulled off. He started to panic. In a way the helmet was sort of security blanket and he didn't want to lose that security.

He blinked a few times to adjust his vision and what he saw took his breath away. Right in his face was…his face. Well it was sort of his face, but older looking, like it'd been aged about twenty years. But this was King Xerxes, wasn't it? So why did they look so much alike? Xerxes blinked a few times himself. A thousand emotions stirred in his eyes until they finally reached anger.

The grip on Matt's throat became impossibly tighter.

"What's your name, your real name? Answer me!"

Matt barely choked his name out, "Matthew Areli."

Xerxes cursed and dropped him in a heap on the ground. Matt had no clue what was going on but he could tell that Xerxes knew something, something that would explain why they looked so similar. He wanted to ask him what that was but for one thing his throat hurt so badly he considered taking a vow of silence and the other thing was that if he asked he had no clue how Xerxes would react. Over the past two days he'd proved himself to be extremely volatile. Sending notes through the news media to mock the police and then complaining that the officers seemed unjustly angry with him.

"Your mother always used to say that everything comes full circle no matter what you do to avoid it, you'll always meet destiny. Strange woman, your mother was," Xerxes looked at the other side of the room, seeming a little lost in thought. He crossed over to a table that, besides the bed, was the only piece of furniture in the small apartment.

"How," Matt chose his words carefully so he was only speaking the minimum of what he needed to say what he was trying to say, "did you know her?"

"She was my wife and just to avoid a _Star Wars_ moment, why don't you say it."

"No way," Matt wheezed.

Xerxes sighed and took a seat on one of the two chairs that were at the table. Matt's mind reeled. How could it be? Why? What? How? When? Who? How? Rewind! When Matt was a toddler or maybe a little older, his mother had told him when he turned ten, repo-men had come to the house to collect a vital organ his father owed them. His father ran and never returned. They'd assumed he was either dead or got away and didn't care enough to bother to return for them. His mother had been resentful and forgiving all at once. She'd remarried when he was seven, something he only vaguely remembered. Then both his mom and step-dad had died in the car crash that changed everything. At some point he'd forgotten he'd ever had a biological father…until just moments ago.

"I guess you know about that whole repo-men fiasco that forced me to leave. I got away but just barely. I'd have come back but I was too afraid. I remade myself here on the streets. I became the king of my own domain, with my own subjects and respect from all sides. It wasn't something I intended to do, it just sort of happened. I never forgot about you two of course."

Matt didn't know what to say. He got his elbows beneath him and pushed himself into an upright position. Could this really have been a coincidence? But maybe that was a question better left to philosophers and scientists. Matt just wanted to soak in the information, not that he got the chance. Suddenly Xerxes was tense again and he got up and round house kicked Matt right in the head. He blacked out.

When he came to the sun was shining through the cracks in the blinds and his hands and feet were bound. Xerxes was nowhere to be seen. He tried to move around some but the minute he did so all of his muscles protested with pain and stiffness. He stopped trying to move. Matt took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself. Day three of his captivity was turning out fantastic, just fantastic. Maybe next vultures would start circling him. He considered calling for help but the slums being what they were it wasn't likely anyone would help him. He'd just be another cry for help, another victim. He really hated the idea of being anyone's victim. He lay there for what must have been hours, dozed off a few times only to wake in a panic thinking he heard Xerxes coming.

Xerxes was his father. He still couldn't quite wrap his mind around the idea and yes, it did feel very _Star Wars_ and surreal but even so there was simply no way it wasn't true…which sucked. Why did bad things always happen to him? Did he do something bad that warranted the sort of misery he'd experienced throughout his life. From his father having to leave them, to his mom and step-dad's deaths, Ms. Marni's death, and all the way to having to leave Shilo all he seemed to experience was suffering. It was like he was made for it, or something overdramatic like that. He finally fell into a deep sleep.

He didn't really know what was happening when he woke up again except that the sun's light wasn't nearly as harsh as before leading him to believe it was the afternoon. He could smell food cooking and his stomach growled. He hadn't eaten for about two and a half days. He looked up and around to see Xerxes at the stove cooking something in a skillet. He managed, just barely, to work up the energy to speak.

"So, are you gonna starve me?"

Xerxes turned his head and looked down at him, "Of course not, how can I get my point across to you if you're dead? I mean, there's kicking a dead horse and then there's trying to lecture one. I'm not that crazy."

"No, but you're definitely certifiable. I'm your son, why are you keeping me tied up like this?" Matt queried, curiosity eating at him.

Xerxes rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically, "I told you, I want to get my point across to you. You aren't a very good listener, are you?"

Matt was angry now, "And what is the point you want to get across, exactly?"

"That you're a cocky idiot and a pawn…son," and Xerxes smiled at him, spite written across his features, "Food's ready, I made chicken stir fry. It was one of your mother's favorites when we were dating."

Mentally Matt cursed Xerxes for making it that much more undeniable that they were father and son. Every year, on the anniversary of his dad's disappearance, his mother would make chicken stir fry. His step-dad took the little remembrance with stride and was very understanding. He was truly beginning to wonder how he managed to fall into the very small percentage favoring this meeting happening. There had to have been only a twenty percent chance they'd ever cross paths. Maybe lower. But Matt was just unlucky enough for it to happen even with the odds against it. If life was a person she hated him, after all only a woman could be this spiteful. He knew, he used to date Carmel- pardon, Amber Sweet.

He was maneuvered into a sitting position and his hands unbound so he could eat. Xerxes sat on the floor with him. They ate in tension so thick you could cut through it with a knife. Xerxes seemed totally unaffected by his presence despite the tension though. It drove Matt crazy, shouldn't this man be as…conflicted, angry, dumbfounded as he was. Some part of him just wanted to cry, but he wouldn't give into that. It would be a sign of weakness, repo-men showed no weakness.

Five days later, when he was no longer sure if there was any other feeling on his body then pain, he began to realize just how weak he was. His body felt like a giant bruise and he could barely move. Xerxes, a man who clearly wasn't all there, kept saying he wasn't getting the lesson. What lesson? What was he trying to get across by beating the living crud out of him? Every day it was the same thing. He'd wake up, he'd get fed and the rest of the day would either be spent alone or being beaten up and talked at. Not that he ever paid much attention to what Xerxes was saying.

"I don't get what your problem is, Kid," Xerxes said one day as he crouched in front of him, "Maybe you need to hear what I have to say first and then get beat up. There's an idea."

_What is he going on about now? _Matt thought as he twisted his head to look at his captor and father in one.

"Repo-men never did the world any good. They just kept a bad thing going. They didn't make you strong or give you any means of coping with what happened. I got friends, if you're wondering how I know what happened, and they told me everything they could. Look, if you're anything like me then you know there's something wrong with the world and the only way to live is to live outside of it. When you make yourself into one of the causes of the world's problems you make yourself into a disposable thing. You live outside like I do and no one can touch you. Now look, I'll let you go if you promise to leave the repo biz and as an added bonus I'll leave this island. There's better business to be found elsewhere and I'd want you to have a chance on these streets. I'm not all bad, after all. You think about it. Think about everything. Examine how you got to this point in your life and I think you'll see why my offer is one of the best you've ever been given."

Matt looked to the floor and blurted the first thing that came to mind out, "Why? What's so bad about it?"

Xerxes had just stood up and at the question he looked down, "Because it's a bad legacy, Kid."

"Legacy?" Matt croaked out

"The only thing we have when we die is whatever legacy we leave. Now, do you want people to remember the killer Wolf or someone who stood above and away from the rest? Now that's a sort of legacy I think is worth having. Laugh at the queens and kings whose legacies crumble with every tell-all book that gets put out before and after they're dead and gone. You can watch them tumble and laugh because you saw it coming and you were never going to be affected by it. Not like the people in live in the world. Understand now."

"What's wrong with repo?"

"Look what it did to us, Kid. Look at how many families its torn up and destroyed. And for what? To satisfy the greed of Rotti Largo! Why should we pay that king anything when he does nothing good for us?"

"But that vital organ you got replaced by GeneCo. Wasn't that a good thing for you."

"If I'd known then what I know now, I'd have rather died then get that transplant."

"So what is it you know now?"

"After I got that organ, I became GeneCo's property. It's in the fine print, Kid. They don't tell you, but it's in the fine print."

Matt couldn't believe it. He'd always known Rotti was out for himself but never would he have expected something as monumental as this. And Matt lay there for the rest of the day thinking about what, indeed, had brought him to this point in his life. After hours and hours of critical though the only answer he came up with was that it was nothing good. Death had brought him to Nathan and Rotti; revenge had brought him to repo. Fate, luck, or maybe even God had brought him to Xerxes. He didn't like his legacy at all. It was bleak and bloody. He wanted to laugh at the kings and queens as he watched them tumble from the self-made high places in society. He thought about the family the people he killed might have had. He thought about how his parents had died. They didn't die because someone didn't pay for their organ. They died because someone wanted to make that man pay in the most merciless way possible.

The next morning, when Xerxes walked out of his room he said the words that set him down the path to zydrate, grave robbing and Shilo. Yes and how could he ever regret such a decision? It was a much better, freer life. He had control over himself. He went where he wanted and did what he wanted. No one to watch his every move. No one to order him to kill. No paperwork. He hated Xerxes for all he'd done to him but he was grateful to him too, in a way. Xerxes had given him a way out. He gave him a way to truly have revenge for his mother and step-dad's deaths. He made himself into a thorn in the side of GeneCo, the real cause of their passing. And no one ever realized he was so good at evading capture because GeneCo had trained him. Matt was dead, The Wolf was dead but Graverobber was alive and well.


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Yay, I actually uploaded the next chapter. This one had actually been written months ago but I wrote it right after chapter 12 so I had to write the chapters in between. So, with no further ado, here's chapter 18. Oh and remember read, enjoy and review :)**

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><p>Chapter 18: Viva La Vida<p>

"I swear Kell, it's just one night and I'll pay you plenty for doing this for me," pleaded Graverobber.

"Bro, y'know I got your back but you said so yourself, dis' girl crazy!"

"I didn't say she was crazy. She's just coping with her situation by…" Graverobber paused to find words to explain to a man who dropped out of school in the fifth grade what dissociative identity disorder was, "She just split herself up to cope with what happened!"

"Uh-huh. What if this Ignacia show up huh? What am I supposed to do then?"

"Nothing she asks you to do."

Kell looked at him suspiciously then asked tightly, "Man, you said she was the craziest but what you not been tellin' me bout' Ignacia?"

Graverobber mumbled his answer.

"Graves my man, yer gonna hafta stop that mumblin' or whatcha gon' do when you ask Crazy Girl to marry you?"

"What are you a matchmaker?"

"What ain't you tellin' me bout' Ignacia?!"

Graverobber growled and said, "She thinks she's one of my girls."

"Man, you wanna put me in the same room as a girl who thinks your her pimp?" He asked indignantly.

"Kell, I don't have time to explain why I need you to do this for me I need you to get down to that house and keep an eye on Shilo!"

Kell heaved a sigh, "Okay, but I ain't socializin' with the nutcase. Imma watch TV and act like she don't exist even when she bein' Ignacia. How bad is it anyway?"

"I told _Shilo_ that she'd be meeting with a psychologist, right?"

"Right," replied Kell.

"I'm already up, she comes down to breakfast and I remind her about the meeting. She says I never told her about it. She eats her breakfast, goes to her room, and about an hour later while I'm sitting in front of the TV watching the news Kyle, who thinks she'd just woken up, comes down and asks if I'll be staying for her meeting with the psychologist."

"I don't get it."

"Neither did I, I may not even understand it now, but I sat and thought it over awhile and I think that whatever happens and whatever is told to her when Shilo is the dominant personality gets to whatever alternate personality can handle the situation. It's likely the only thing Shilo remembers is her dad and me which is why she's always so upset."

"I think you mighta hit the nail on the head Graves."

"Yeah, I told my theory to Galena but all I got was a noncommittal grunt."

"Kyle's likely to leave me alone, right?"

"Yep, but if she asks why you're there tell her I sent you there cause' I'm worried about somebody breaking in."

"What if it's Annie I'm dealin' with?"

"Tell her you're a friend of mine, that'll do."

"And Ignacia?"

"Same thing but be sure to let her know you're not interested if she gets any ideas cause' in reality she doesn't really understand what she's asking."

"Right."

"You gonna get over there now?"

"I think if I don't go now you'll kill me so here I go," he said as he turned and began to walk away. Half out of the alley Kell turned back and asked, "You haven't… y'know… with Ignacia."

It took Graverobber a second to understand what he was trying to ask then, "No! I have more honor than that."

"You the only one out here that does and one of these days you're gonna tell me why," Kell stated with confidence before walking out of the alley and hitching a ride on one of the GeneCo "garbage" trucks.

The hard part was over and now what was left was the hardest part, confronting Xerxes. He'd forgone his usual clothes for all black attire that fit his form and his black combat boots. Instead of zydrate in his zydrate belt he carried his hunting knife and had attached a leather pack that carried some of his old repo tools. He tugged the rolled up sleeves of his shirt down to their proper place right above the wrists and pulled his hair back into a ponytail, the last thing he needed was for his hair to get in his line of sight while he was fighting. If there was a fight, that was. There probably would be too if he knew Xerxes. Nighttime on the streets of Crucifixus were full of sights and sounds that he'd grown accustomed to over time. The screams and cries of people, the smell of garbage and corpses, the neon lights that colored the skin of the junkies and homeless that scurried about to find some shelter from the storm that was brewing in the skies. The drop in air pressure was giving Graverobber a headache and the humidity was oppressive. If Danil's info was correct than Xerxes was on the fifth floor of the apartment complex he was approaching in apartment 105b.

Elevators in these kinds of rundown places were never trustworthy so the stairs, though inconvenient, were the safest way to go. By the time he made it to the fifth floor he'd gone over several questions he had for the old man the first of which had to do with wanting to know why he was on Crucifixus. As he approached the door he considered the ways he could enter. Knocking was certainly one choice but there were too many ways it could go wrong. There weren't any windows big enough to sneak through. He settled for the less than subtle approached of kicking the door down and rushing inside. His old repo-man training kicked in with full force even changing his way of thinking about Xerxes. He swept the immediate area with his eyes in search of the target. He was certain it was home. There was a small living room with an easy chair and a TV. The kitchen consisted of a toaster oven on a counter, a fridge and a table with two seats that was practically in the kitchen. Then there was a hallway with a door on each side. One likely led to the bathroom and the other to the bedroom. It was a pretty good apartment for the slums.

"Xerxes? Don't make me come after you."

The door on the right side of the hallway opened nonchalantly and Graverobber was abruptly greeted with the sight of a gun pointed at his head. Once he managed to gather his wits he was able to look past the gun and see the face he hadn't seen since he was twenty-one. Xerxes. He hadn't changed much in the past nine years. There were streaks of gray in his long brunette hair. The crows feet around his eyes were more pronounced. But it was the fact that he still looked as strong as he used to be, his aim as steady as ever that surprised him. He still dressed in the same navy blue muscle shirt, black pants and brown combat boots and no doubt his black jacket that looked like it'd been taken from a tuxedo was somewhere in the apartment.

"Matt," he said with a smirk, the same infuriating smirk Graverobber knew he himself had. He was reliving realizing all their similarities like he had during those ten days he was Xerxes captive, "love the whole multi-colored highlights and dreds thing you've got going on."

"Xerxes, what are you doing back on Crucifixus when you told me to my face that you had no plans on coming back after you left?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "What can I say? I got bored first off. Then I kinda got into it with the law and well I couldn't think of anything else to do so I came here. You've really grown up since the last time I saw you."

Xerxes smirk turned into a smile. Graverobber decided it was as good a moment as any and grabbed for the gun. Xerxes pulled back, the gun slightly changing in aim, and fired a warning shot that grazed the younger man's shoulder. Graverobber mentally kicked himself and put a hand to his wound in a vain attempt to staunch the blood flow.

"Next one won't be a warning," Xerxes said with the gun aimed once again at Graverobber's head. He knew Xerxes wasn't kidding around, remembered his sadistic streak. Xerxes had been a little messed up in the head ever since the attempted repo on him all those decades ago and it clearly hadn't gotten better.

"What is it about making me bleed that you like so much?" Graverobber growled the question.

"That ridiculous betrayed look you get on your face."

Graverobber reached into the pouch and pulled out a scalpel. Repo-men usually used a sort of heavy-duty scalpel with a baton like handle but The Wolf had always found them too clunky and stuck to the tools a normal surgeon would use.

"Oh, you're getting serious now," commented Xerxes.

The practiced stoicism of nearly a decade past enveloped him. His features blank, his eyes betraying nothing but analysis. They'd said people like he and Nathan were naturals at assassination. Hadn't it been Doc and Fox who often said that even they had had more trouble with the killing than Wolf when they'd first started out? Hadn't he always had that amazing lack of consideration for the lives of others? Didn't Xerxes do the same thing? Hadn't he tortured him, starved him and left him to die on a few of those ten days only to be shocked the next morning that he'd held out? Yes and with those skills and memories in mind he had to make this count. It could save his life.

Xerxes' smile dropped and he looked thoughtful for a moment before asking, "So, did you do what you said you would?"

Graverobber stopped mid-lunge, "I did but you've broken your part of the agreement."

"Sometimes that happens."

"Sometime I might kill you."

"I'm the one with a gun pointed at your head."

"You know as well as I do that that means nothing to a former legal assassin."

Xerxes chuckled and lowered the gun to his side, "I saw your wanted poster and I hear you've been going by the name Graverobber now. I like it but it wasn't what I wanted you to do."

"What I'd do once I left repo was never part of the agreement."

He sighed heavily, "I suppose not. Look at you though. Looking at you is like looking in the mirror and seeing a younger me. We're practically twins."

"I don't want to talk about it," Graverobber said when he sensed the direction the conversation was heading.

"I hear you've been living with the girl from the Genetic Opera, what was her name, Shilo Wallace an-"

Graverobber needed to silence him, "Why are you out to kill me?"

"What?" Xerxes asked with what looked to Graverobber to be genuine confusion.

"You're the only person I know who'd want me dead but also has a strict policy of making sure the only casualties are the person you're after."

"There's a reason for that but I'm not the one out to kill you."

"I don't believe you" Graverobber said calmly and tightened his grip on the scalpel.

"Have I ever lied to you before?" Xerxes asked and took a step closer to Graverobber.

The other man was forced to admit, "No, not even when you knew the truth would hurt."

"So you know I'm not lying now but it sounds like you could use some help."

"Why would I want you to help me?" Graverobber took a step towards Xerxes which practically brought them nose to nose in the small space.

"Because the name Graverobber doesn't hold as much forced respect as the name King Xerxes. I could easily weed this guy out. I hear you're having problems with Miss Sweet, I could help with that too."

Graverobber took time to consider his words. Xerxes had never lied to him before and had no reason to lie to him now. He also knew that the elder man was still widely considered the king of the illegal drug market and the streets could easily be his for the taking if he wanted them back. This alliance would also give him access to information that he might not be able to get as easily without him. The killer had gotten too close the other day for comfort and he needed convenient help like Xerxes and fast. Come to think of it, the whole thing was a little too convenient.

"You knew someone was after me before you came here, didn't you?"

"This guy, I think he might have been the brains behind last night. He started asking around for you where I was first. I think he may have had me mistaken for you. I think that wanting you dead isn't personal."

"I've been thinking that too," Graverobber sheathed his knife and said, "I'll accept your help."

Xerxes walked past the younger male and over to table where he set his gun down. Graverobber moved to stand behind the chair opposite the elder man.

Xerxes smirk retuned and he cocked his head and said, "Y'know, there's also word on the street that that Shilo girl and you are gonna make me a grandpa soon."

"That's strictly a rumor, Dad."


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: Well, it's about eleven days late but HAPPY BIRTHDAY "The Old Things Have Passed Away". It doesn't feel like a year but wow, just wow. I'm very sorry that I haven't updated in so long. School as been particularly busy this year, I have eight classes and it's difficult to keep up with them all. I will never abandon a story though so don't worry. Read, enjoy and REVIEW :) Pretty please with sugar lumps on top 3 "Freaky Friday" is by Aqua. **

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><p>Chapter 19: Freaky Friday<p>

_Freaky Friday, things ain't going my way_

_Everything is gone_

_My life is a country song_

…

_Freaky Friday, go play on the highway_

_Everything is wrong, what the heck is going on _

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><p>Carmella Largo, also known as Amber Sweet, was mad. That was, of course, normal. She was someone who got angry and frustrated easily. One of her most explosive temper tantrums to date had been over a spoon she dropped on the floor so it surprised no one when the morning, afternoon actually, had started with a gunshot, blood and the screams of the maid who tried to wake her up. The day had progressed further down the drain from there. If it wasn't one thing then it was another. But unlike her typically unfocused anger this one stemmed from a specific reason, her brothers.<p>

Pavi and Luigi had always been Rotti's problem. He cleaned up their messes, hid what he could and kept them relatively in line when it was important that they stay out of trouble. Now Rotti Largo was dead and it was up to Amber to take on his responsibilities and do as her father had to protect her brothers from their own stupidity. She was ready to kill them both in the most horrendous ways she could imagine and she had a fairly vivid imagination. Why their father hadn't just shot them all and been done with it, she didn't know. It was certainly the solution she was considering.

For the first two or even three weeks one could argue that they were acting out because of the death of their father. But it had been well over a month and now it was clear they were acting up because they didn't have Rotti's leash around their necks anymore. In just one month Luigi had injured or killed nineteen people and Pavi was on his fifth new face which equated to five or more women raped and mutilated. As for Amber, she may have only remade herself into a more glamorous version of what she'd once been but at least she wasn't…her brothers. Everyone wisely gave her a wide berth whenever one of them got in trouble including whichever brother was in trouble, not that they could escape her when she wanted to give them a piece of her mind and a good clawing with her perfectly manicured nails.

"PAAVVVIIII! I'll kill you for this! How did this get in the newspaper!? Do you want to go to jail!?"

Luigi glared at Pavi from across the wall of a corridor, "You better go talk to her."

"Hmph, why should I? I'd like to live to see my next birthday, you know," replied Pavi while admiring his reflection, "No, I think getting out of here would be a better idea or you could…ahem…settle her down," and he quirked his brows suggestively.

"Pavi, there's a switchblade in my pocket, now go talk to her!"

"You don't scare me, Luigi," Pavi replied, turning his face away from the mirror for a second to send a glare of his own at his brother before turning right back to it.

"PAVI!"

"Umm," Pavi looked back to Luigi, "did that scream sound closer than the last one to you?"

"Yup, you're dead."

"LUIGI!"

"Looks like you're in trouble too," Pavi shot back haughtily.

Luigi looked down the hallway, "It sounds like she's coming from down there, so let's head in the opposite direction. We'll go bar hopping or something."

Pavi looked in the direction they assumed their baby sister was coming from, "Sounds like a plan."

"Nice place, Kid, it's big and in the middle of nowhere, great view of the city. I loved it the minute I saw it the other night."

"Shut up, it isn't mine anyway. It's the Kid's."

Xerxes, commandeering everything as he usually did, decided the best place to start would be Shilo's house…for dinner. Graverobber had the strangest feeling he wasn't going to be the only food leech around the place anymore. As they approached the door a scream could be heard from the inside and the next thing they knew Kell had tackled them both to the ground and was trying to crawl away. They pushed him off of their chests and looked into the open door to see what he was running from. Standing in the doorway, blue wig slightly off center, and looking ready to kill was Shilo in full Ignacia get up.

"I ain't ever doin' this again. She's crazy," and Kell scrambled to his feet and ran behind a tree, cowering in fear.

Xerxes was standing up before Graverobber and, of course, eyeing Shilo like piece of meat. Graverobber got between the two of them not wanting to watch Xerxes's blatant attraction to…a girl he was friends with.

"Okay, which one of you is going to tell me what's going on around here?"

Kell looked over to…Ignacia…with a wild look in his eyes. Graverobber could honestly say he'd never seen his long time Z dealer friend so freaked out in all the years he'd known him. Whatever went down it must have been bad.

"Look man, she started it. I told her 'no' like ten times and she wouldn't listen. She wanted to…y'know…get it on…Sorry."

Xerxes laughed, and laughed and finally Graverobber told him to shut up because it wasn't funny. It wasn't funny because Shilo was acting nothing like herself, it disturbed him. He wanted desperately for her to be regular old Shilo, naïve about the world outside her room, sweet, beautiful and fun to be around. He missed the old Shilo, she wasn't around enough anymore. Either way, this situation had to be dealt with.

"Kell, why don't you come inside and we'll sort this all out."

"No!"

"Hey Baby, who are these guys anyway?" Ignacia asked in what she must have thought was a seductive tone except that it just sounded very annoying.

"I told you Kell was coming over and this is Xerxes, you'll learn to hate him as much as I do as you get to know him."

Xerxes took it upon himself to drag Kell back in the house, though he seemed to do so mainly for his own amusement. It was rather funny watching a grown man, a street roughened drug dealer no less, cry and call for his mommy as he was dragged into a house by a man at least twenty years his senior. Graverobber ushered Shilo into the living room and sat her down on the four-seat couch. Xerxes forced Kell into an easy chair and then sat on a love seat with Graverobber, the irony was not at all lost on either of them in regards to the name of their shared piece of furniture.

"Talk, one of you, now," Graverobber ordered.

Kell looked at Ignacia. Ignacia looked at Kell. They waited for the other to start talking for several seconds before Kell finally blurted out, "It's not like you aren't hot or something. You are really hot, in fact. I'd do it with you, really, but I think Graves wouldn't be too happy 'bout that."

Graverobber kicked Kell in the knee, hard, for what he'd said. Kell cried out in pain and looked over like something wrong had been done to him.

"Like I was sayin' 'fore I got kicked, you are hot but I can't do it with you or Graves'll kill me."

Ignacia rolled her eyes dramatically, "I suppose threatening you with a meat cleaver was a bit overboard."

"A bit," Graverobber said, "you threatened to kill Kell and you think that's just _a bit_ overboard?!"

Ignacia took on an offended air, "I'd never kill a fly, I was just going to cut off…ahem, the family jewels."

"I cannot wait until Galena comes back for another session, you two are going to talk about this. I'll make sure of it. This is not alright. In fact I think you're getting worse, Kid."

"I just want grandchildren," Xerxes interjected randomly, "A week before I'm dead, at least. Sooner would nice though."

Ignacia looked utterly confused, wearing an almost Shilo like expression on her face of understanding the words and actions but not quite their meanings. Graverobber couldn't have been more mortified if Xerxes had stripped naked and started doing the Macarena on the coffee table.

"What's grandkids gotta do with any of this?" Kell asked, really looking at Xerxes for the first time and no doubt noting the similarities between him and Graverobber.

"Well," Xerxes began dramatically, "Graverobber here is my son, and I kept hearing about this girl here being pregnant with his child only to discover, heartbreakingly, that it was not true."

Kell stared at them wide eyed, Shilo's jaw dropped, Xerxes wore a self-satisfied smirk and Graverobber just rolled his eyes at all of them. It wasn't hard to figure out why the idea, even, of him having a father would seem strange. He'd shown up out of the blue on the streets of Crucifixus, like an anomaly at first but one which slowly integrated into the night scene and became part of it. A person such as him seemed randomly generated at best so no one had ever really given where his parents were any thought. He'd offered almost no information about his past and no one really asked anyway.

"Stop staring, it isn't that unimaginable, is it?"

"A little," Kell said with no hesitation, "Got any embarrassing baby pics?"

"Sure do, I kept them on a save-chip so when I had to suddenly leave him and his Mama behind I still had them with me. Get me a computer and I'll show you. He was such a cute little scamp."

Graverobber groaned in horror, it turned out he could be mortified further. Kell would definitely use those pics for blackmail. He was going to be doing him a lot of favors in the near future to keep those off the streets. They all got up as Kell led them to his laptop in the kitchen. He and Xerxes were chattering away about what kind of pictures there were on the chip. Wait, maybe he could destroy the chi-

"Ow!" Graverobber cried out as a sudden weight pounced on his back, "Kid, I'm not a horse, get off my back."

"Whee! Baby pics of Graverobber! I wonder if he'll give me some copies."

"They do say that the third time's the charm," Xerxes called back to him.

"I hate you, Xerxes."

"Are there any naked pics of Ole Graves in there?" Kell asked gleefully

Xerxes laughed, "I have a whole file dedicated to the naked pics."

"You're kidding me," said Graverobber, "Please be kidding me!"

Amber Sweet was thoroughly enraged. When she got a hold of her brothers she had every intention of tearing them limb from limb. How could they both be so irritating? It would have only taken them a few minutes to listen to her give them a piece of her mind but now…when she found them she was going to give them hours of pain and suffering. The kind of suffering you remembered and worked hard not to forget lest you end up making the same mistake that led to aforementioned suffering in the first place.

They probably thought they'd get away without a hitch but they didn't know what she'd done. She'd placed trackers in all of the cars. She'd find them in no time, as soon as she got to a computer. They'd probably go to a club, or barhopping, maybe a strip show, or they may have just hit the streets to find another person to murder, another woman to mutilate. Not that she minded them doing the last two; it was just that they didn't seem to know how to properly keep it quiet so that they didn't get any bad press. In reality, even if they were taken in for questioning or investigated it wouldn't really matter. Police were so corrupt that given the right amount of cash they could get away with anything.

"Did my brothers tell any of you idiots where they were going?!"

The huddled group of Genterns she'd asked this of shook their heads no and cringed when Amber growled in reply. Of course her brothers wouldn't tell anyone what they were up to, what was she thinking? Those two made her so scatter brained.

"Daddy would have been able to deal with this," she muttered to herself, "Daddy always knew what to do about them. I'm supposed to be the baby! I hate those two."

She stomped past a surGEN who was trying to staunch the blood flow from his chest and she knew immediately that her brothers had been through the hallway already. Her brothers always seemed to invoke terror and cause destruction wherever they went. She knew she did the same. In fact it seemed that all Largo's possessed the ability to do so to some extent. Giuseppe Largo, their grandfather , had been just as imposing if his portraits were anything to go by and noted duly for harming many employees and acquaintances alike. He had died a few years after Luigi had been born.

When she caught those two they were going to suffer horribly. Was it so much to ask that they stay out of trouble? Just stay out of trouble long enough for her to solidify herself in the public eye as a woman who'd genuinely turned over a new leaf (which she hadn't) so she'd be just as loved and feared as her father ever was. But no, they couldn't take a good reaming with dignity, they ran away instead and now she had to chase them…What was she supposed to be doing again? Oh, forget the computer! She was going straight to the garage.

A piercing scream of frustration caused everyone on the garage floor to look up then, upon realizing it was Miss Sweet, immediately vacate said floor. Later, through the grapevine, the entire building's population would be made aware that Miss. Sweet had discovered that every single tracker she had had on the cars were scattered throughout their massive garage stomped on, shot up and a few had even been peed on.


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: So, this is dedicated to The Guardian of the Pack. Thank you for giving me reason to get out of my slump and start writing this again. Not out on the weekend like I promised but it's not too late (I counted MLK Day as part of the weekend so I'm only a day late). I don't own this below Cascada song, sorry. Anyway, read, review (it really does motivate me to write) and, most importantly, enjoy. **

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><p>Chapter 20: Evacuate the Dance Floor<p>

_Come on and evacuate, feel the club is heating up_

_Move on and accelerate, push it to the top_

_Come on and evacuate, feel the club is heating up_

_Move on and accelerate, you don't have to be afraid- _Cascada

Jo and Indigo sat side by side at the bar. They had bumped into one another in an alley and had decided to just go somewhere together. Just to hang out. They'd gravitated almost immediately to the old nightclub from their high school days. It was more dilapidated and dirty than the last time they'd been in it but it still felt like home. As much as a night club is inclined to feel like home anyway. Jo kept rocking back and forth on the creaky wooden barstool making Indigo nervous that it would break under her movement. Of course, if it did, Jo would probably just laugh. It wouldn't be so funny when the owner made them pay for a new stool though.

Indigo looked around them. The place really was old and run down. The paint on the walls peeled further down from their former place on the walls with every passing day. There wasn't a single matching table or chair to be seen and all of them looked ready to fall apart any second. There was a cleared space for dancing in front of a small stage where a turn table from the early 2000's was set up for DJ Granny, called DJ Droptop, in her youth. The bathrooms were a fate worse than any depicted in Dante's Inferno and only the bravest souls ventured past the doorway into the mildew, human waste, body fluids of various sorts and worst of all, cockroaches.

"So, how do you think Graves is holding up with Lil' Shilo?"

"Since when does anyone call her that?" Indigo queried about the new nickname.

"Never until now," Jo replied.

"Whatever, I'm sure he's fine."

"Yeah…," she looked pensively down at her beer before looking back up and saying all too cheerfully, "By the way, the Largo brothers just walked in."

"What!?"

Indigo turned her head to look at the entrance. The unmistakable faces of the world's most notorious set of brothers graced, and that was a word she used for lack of a better one to be found in her limited vocabulary, her eyes. Those disgusting, perverse, violent, over-privileged, immature, vile Largo brothers. Hmm, maybe her vocabulary wasn't as limited as she thought. Pavi looked her way, she avoided eye contact and turned back to her drink. Hopefully she avoided his notice.

"Don't the Largo's have it in for Opera Girl?" Jo asked

"Settle on a name already! But yeah, I think they do. Think we should tell Graverobber?"

"I think he'd want to know where two of the Terrible Trio is at right now."

"Seriously Jo? Please stop giving everyone stupid, little nicknames. But, you're probably right. I'll call him."

"Ohmygosh! So cute!"

The utter mortification. The humiliation. It was more than he could bare…poor wording. He just had to have the naked baby pics on him, though. And everyone had to be so gung-ho about seeing them. He couldn't take much more of the cooing and aww-ing. Although, he had to admit, he had been a pretty cute baby. Even still, this was not something he wanted other people to see. Especially Kell, who had the worst habit of running his mouth too much.

"So, how about that game last night?"

"You don't like sports, Graves," Kell retorted.

"Well, maybe I watched a game last night and decided I liked it. And now I want to talk about it."

"Can I get a copy of that," asked Shilo, who may not have been Shilo at the moment, Graverobber wasn't sure.

"I'll let you copy them all if you want," replied Xerxes smoothly. Yeah, he was still mildly attracted to her. "Oh, there's him and his mother right after she had him."

"She's beautiful," Shilo said.

"Yeah…" Xerxes replied wistfully, "She was, and she was mine.

A musical pattern of ringing sounded throughout the room and everyone looked down at their wrist phones. It was Graverobber's that was going off, Indigo was calling him.

"What's up, Indie?"

"Hey, aren't you interested in the Largo's for a certain reason."

He blinked at the holographic image of Indigo on his wrist, "Yeah, why?"

"Cause the brothers are here at the same club me and Jo are."

_I wonder if they know why Amber thinks there's a signed will. _Graverobber mused to himself before turning back to the phone, "I'll be over there in a little bit."

"Okay, we'll wait for you," Indigo replied, "Jo, that's not how you drink from a bottle."

"Why isn't it?" He heard Jo whine in the background.

"Hanging up on you now," Graverobber said before doing just that, "Hey, Kell, Xerxes."

"Yeah, Kid," replied Xerxes.

"Pavi and Luigi are over at the some club Jo and Indigo are at. It just occurred to me they didn't tell me what one."

"Don't worry, man. If those two are together than I know the club they're at," Kell assured.

"Then I think maybe we should try and have a talk with them. Amber is…upset with me about something."

"Hey man, she's the one payin' not you. She ain't got the right to complain."

"This isn't about that Kell. And I'd like it a lot if you didn't talk about my sex life in front of my dad."

"Is she hot, son?"

"You bet she is," Kell informed.

"Tell me everything. It'll help."

By then they'd forgotten about the sole female in the room who, in light of all the company, had flipped on a personality that could handle so many people in her once fairly empty world. Annie wasn't happy to hear her beloved husband was…intimate with another woman. Moreover, she was enraged that he would discuss it so openly in front of her. How dare he! But she was smart enough to keep her mouth shut. They were planning on leaving and she'd follow them. She'd find out what he was up to and where this Amber woman was and give her a piece of her mind.

"Can we please leave already!" Graverobber demanded.

"Don't tell your father what to do, young man."

"You've been absent most of my life. It gives me permission to do whatever I want to with you. So there!"

"Wanna take my car."

"Fine!" Father and son shouted at Kell in response.

The rumble of the car engines as she sped down the road was a sure indicator that she was going way over the speed limit. Not that she cared or had to worry, the Largo family owned the police and Amber Sweet was the head honcho in the Largo household these days. It had taken a lot of calling around to the nightclubs and bars around the area but she found them and they were going to seriously regret not facing her wrath in the first place, she was madder than before and majorly inclined to take it out on Luigi and Pavi. If they thought they were going to get away with this they were sorely wrong. Her wrist phone went off and she answered it.

"What?" She asked harshly.

"Miss Sweet, this is Detective Charnell, are either of your brothers with you right now."

"Not now but soon," she replied cryptically. This was bad. Charnell was notorious for playing it straight when it came to the Largo family.

"Right, well when you do have them with you be sure to have them come down to the station to talk to me. They aren't in trouble."

Amber knew that the "yet" at the end of that last sentence was going consciously unspoken. "Alright, I'll be sure to have them do that."

Great, as if she didn't have enough troubles. Pavi and Luigi were so dead when she got ahold of them. She knew it was only a matter of time before they got caught and that was why she wanted to crack down on them so hard. If they didn't straighten up a little…well, she wasn't sure if she'd want to try to save them. They deserved everything they had coming to them and then some if they kept up their lives of wanton destruction, murder and rape. She was no saint herself but she could honestly say that she hadn't killed anyone that didn't deserve it or in self-defense. Okay, there was that one time, but that didn't count because…well, it didn't. She hoped they were still at the club she last heard they were at.

"Indie? After this, do you want to come back to the store and take inventory with me?"

"Why would I want to do something boring like that?"

"I have sticks!"

"I can't wait till Graverobber gets here. He's saner company than you. I swear, with every year that passes you get nuttier."

"Hello ladies," said an overly put on Italian accented voice in Indigo's ear. She turned in horror to see Pavi Largo. A man who believed he had the right to every woman (and occasionally man) on Crucifixus.

"Leave us alone," Indigo replied calmly, firmly. Pavi didn't take the hint. In fact, he didn't even seem to realize one had been given. His face, covered with the face of another person, contorted into a lecherous grin. Indigo's heart rate picked up, she was in trouble. Suddenly a neon Converse sneaker connected with Pavi's face and sent him skidding across the tile before he made a sudden stop when he hit a table. Indigo looked up to see Jo's leg hovering at a slanted down angle above her post-kick and turned all the way around to see a fierce look on her face as she stood on one leg on the stool. Uh-oh, she knew what was going on. It was the same thing that happened at Junior prom when Wesley Shultz had broken up with her right before they went into the gymnasium and he already had another date waiting inside. Indigo called it Trucker Joe mode but basically it was just Jo, angry and violent.

"That'll teach you Pervert Boy!"

"Enough with the nicknames already!"

Riding in Kell's car was a nightmare.

"So I said that it was fine so long as she brought it back by the end of the day."

"For the last time, no one wants to hear the story about how you lost your ear to a girl scout and got new one, Kell. Okay?"

"Did I ever tell you about your mom and mine's honeymo-"

"Don't even go there Dad. Kell, turn on the music or the news or something!"

The sports car raced down the road heeding only the most basic of road rules to keep the cops from noticing them too greatly. Kell sat in the driver's seat, Xerxes took shotgun and Graverobber had been stuffed into the cramped back seat. He was none too happy. The only good news was that they were nearly there. He needed to know if there was another will, a signed will and maybe they had some information, any, that would help him figure this mystery out. They pulled up to the run down looking night club and jumped, or in Graverobber's case, crawled out of the car.

"I call shotgun next time," he muttered to himself when he landed on the hard, dirty pavement.

"What's the hold up, Kid?" Xerxes asked

Graverobber joined them, grumbling under his breath during the time it took to walk the short distance to reach them. Kell opened the door and they proceeded into the club only to be stopped by a thick crowd that made a ring around the entire room. Xerxes pushed a path open for them to get through and what the saw in the middle of the human ring was a sight to behold. Jo was wielding a stool like battering ram and kept trying to mow down none other than Pavi Largo. Indigo and Luigi had gotten into what was looking to be little more than a knockdown, drag out fight. There was a glint of metal on the floor some distance away from Luigi. It looked like he'd lost his knife.

"We gotta get in there and help them."

"My son's right, you with us Kell?"

"Ain't got nothin' better to do today."

"Okay," Graverobber began, "me and Dad'll help Indie out, Kell, you take Pavi."

"Let's do it!" Shouted Xerxes before diving right into the fight without preamble. Graverobber was right behind him. Kell hesitated but relented a grabbed a chair to use. The fight was on.


	21. Chapter 21

A/N: Back with a brand new chapter folks. I don't own Eye of the Tiger by Survivor or Repo!, I do however own a computer with which I writing fanfic that involves both. Please read, enjoy and review.

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><p>Chapter 21: Eye of the Tiger<p>

_It's the eye of the tiger_

_It's the thrill of the fight_

_Rising up to the challenge of our rival_

_And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night_

_And he's watching us all with the eye of the tiger_

The din of a busy police station was usually something of a comfort to Danil Charnell. It was like a chaotic lullaby sung by a neurotic mother, disjointed and senseless yet somehow still soothing. Today was different, however, today was different. Today he had the gut wrenching displeasure of looking at the possibility of charging a Largo sibling with a crime, an act that could cost him the lives of his loved ones and even his own. Lately the brothers had been getting sloppy, Pavi Largo especially so. Whether it was because of his newfound freedom or an accident or bad luck, he'd left evidence on his latest victim, a prostitute who usually got business from the higher class. Fingerprints, something he'd never left before, had been on several of the items in her bag. While that was circumstantial at best what they found near her body was utterly damning, his wallet, complete with I.D., credit cards and a number of other identifying odds and ends. Sloppy indeed, he must have been in a hurry.

It would figure he was the one that got stuck with this case. He was the only one who ever looked into the Largo family's criminal acts. He was the only one who never turned a blind eye to one of their victims. He was the one who didn't ignore or destroy evidence that pointed to them as the culprits behind something. He was the only one, so try as he might there was no stopping everyone else from covering up for the siblings. This time, though, he was going to try and see this one through to the end. This time he had enough evidence and insurance that said evidence would not be tampered with. He wasn't popular around the place to begin with and he knew he was just going to get less and less popular if he managed to get this thing as far as an arraignment, let alone to an actual court date, so he figured he might as well get a head start and asked the captain of the precinct if he could hold the evidence somewhere he felt was safe. The captain, not being entirely informed of what the whole thing was about he being far too high on zydrate to care either way, agreed to it. Nerve-wracking as it was, Danil was keeping the evidence in a hermetically sealed bag in his desk.

He talked to Galena over the phone about it. She tried to comfort him and work some her psychology mumbo jumbo on him, but it just didn't work. He guessed this was something he'd have to work out on his own. He had the strongest urge to get some chains wrap them around his desk, padlock them and swallow the key. It was either that or take his desk home with him. He wasn't allowed to stay overnight after that little incident where he overheard an officer discussing the terms of a bribe with someone and arrested him. That was probably the moment everyone realized that he was much more of a straight arrow than the rest of them. He hadn't been well liked since and he considered himself lucky to still have his job. Actually, he wasn't entirely sure if lucky would be the word, more like unlucky. They were probably praying or plotting for the day he'd be shot in the line of duty, killed and no longer a thorn in their side. They'd probably throw an office party while Galena mourned, they'd put up a false front of sorrow but never would they actually mean it. Danil didn't try to even fool himself for a second into believing he had friends in the precinct, he knew that even those who were "friendly" with him were only that way to make sure he didn't catch on to their illegal activities, it never worked.

"Hey, Charnell!"

Danil turned in his chair to see one of the uniformed officers coming towards him. If he were anyone else he'd be addressed by this particular amoeba with a little more respect, but he was Danil Charnell and people didn't respect him, they feared him and people attacked and shunned what they feared.

"What is it?"

"There's a fight over at The Spades nightclub. It's pretty bad and they want a detective to go in with us. We were told you were available at the moment."

Danil sighed, he wasn't really but he knew they'd force him to go anyway, "Alright, let's get a move on then. By the time we get there it'll probably be a murder investigation."

"Whatever you say, Charnell. Oh, and I heard the Largo brothers are involved in this fight, may have even started it, just so you know."

So that's why he was available even when he really wasn't. They were hoping the Largo's had already been informed of his investigation, and would kill him. Well, he had just spoken to their sister so…yeah, it was a good thing he finalized his will after that whole Christmas fiasco years before. Never knew what day would be your last in this business. Actually, in general, you never knew what day might be your last.

Indigo was beginning to think that today may be her last. Luigi was a feral opponent who'd go to any lengths to finish her off. She'd never fought anyone like that before, never. She'd been in many scrapes over the years, in school and on the streets, usually to keep what was hers in her possession. Sometimes it was money, other times it was food but almost always she won the fights she got into. This time, however, it didn't even look like she was going to live to fight another day. She should have known better than to stick around after the Largo brothers showed up, talk about asking for it.

She fought like a cat, clawing and swiping at her opponent with sharped nails. There were several nasty scratch marks on Luigi's face. She'd managed to knee him in the stomach once, it knocked the wind out of him and gave her enough time to crack a beer bottle over his head, but it wasn't enough to knock him out or put him down. Stupid, cheap glass! He rammed into her and knocked her onto the ground. He pulled his knife then. She sat up and slapped it out of his hand sending it clattering away. That just made him angrier. He was atop her in an instant, hands around her throat, chocking the life out of her. There were black spots dotting her vision and she struggled to take in even a little oxygen, even a little. Suddenly the weight was lifted off of her, her throat freed and she gulped in oxygen, life giving, wonderful oxygen. She sat up and looked to see what had removed Luigi so suddenly from his self-appointed task of killing her. On either side of him, each holding an arm, were Graverobber and someone who looked ridiculously like him. Someone she only vaguely remembered from years ago, King Xerxes.

"Not you, anyone but you!" Luigi shouted in Graverobber's face.

"What am I, chopped liver?" Xerxes asked rhetorically.

"Aw come on, there's two of you now?"

"Settle down Luigi, unless you want to get hurt," Graverobber warned darkly.

"Ohh, I'm just trembling in fear. Wait till my lawyers hear about this one, you two are going to be locked away for the rest of your lives!"

Meanwhile Pavi was contending with a force unlike any he'd encountered before, namely the full on angry, crazy strength of one Jo Abernathy. What woman dressed like this, what woman fought like this, how could any woman be this strong? She tried to mow him down with the stool again, he dodged just barely in time. She spun and caught him on the side, he thought he heard a rib crack, maybe two. He'd feel particularly lucky if it was only two ribs that were broken by the end of this fight, where did switchblade get to? He knew he should have brought in the gun. He tried to run past her, but ran into Kell's solid chest. Pavi tried to back up, but Jo was right behind him and he never knew a stool to look so intimidating before. Kell was holding a chair by its back and looked ready to use it if that's what it came to. Pavi knew when he was in a situation he couldn't get out of.

"I, a-surrender, hmm."

He simultaneously felt the stool slam into his left side while the chair crashed down on his head. He was out cold.

"That felt good to do, Femme-Face has had that coming for a while," Jo declared, her already high pitched voice higher than normal.

Kell laughed and shook his head, "Give me five, Jo," he said and raised his hand up.

"Five what?" Jo asked, "Five sticks! Look, Kell, I've got a lot more than five. If I lend you five you gotta promise to take care of them and return them in perfect condition or else."

Kell sighed and lowered his head, "Yeah, never mind Jo."

The crowd let out an enormous cheer as Graverobber and Xerxes pinned Luigi down onto the bar. Indigo was laughing her head off and mocking Luigi.

"C'mon, babe, let's get Pavi over to Graves."

Jo grabbed Pavi's legs and Kell grabbed his arms. They dragged him over to where Graverobber, Xerxes and Indigo were. Indigo looked over to them and gave them a thumbs-up. Suddenly the doors to the club burst open and police came storming in. Once all of them had filed in, Amber Sweet strode in looking furious. It seemed they'd arrived at the same time. Either that or she had called them.

"Hah!" Luigi screamed at Graverobber, "Now you're going to get it, you pasty-faced freak!"

"Luigi! Pavi! I'll have your heads mounted over the fireplace for this!" Amber screeched

The police looked to her, not sure what to do. When the Largo's were involved in something, their word was the final one on matters. Whatever Amber told them to do in this instance, they would.

"Arrest my idiot brothers, I don't doubt for a second they started this and keep them there for a week or so, that oughta knock some sense into them!"

The police were initially shocked at the order but quickly moved to apprehend Pavi and Luigi. Pavi, incapable of doing anything but lying unconscious on the ground, had to be carried out by two cops. Luigi went kicking, screaming and cursing the whole way.

Amber sauntered up to Graverobber and put a hand on his chest, "Thanks, my brothers needed to be put in their place."

"So, not mad about the will anymore?"

"Oh, I am, but I have something in my possession now, something that may help me get what I want," she smiled sinisterly.

"Oh, is that so?" Graverobber asked, sure she was just talking and didn't really have anything.

"Yes, it is. I got it on my way here, actually. I think I'll see you later, Graverobber."

She left as quickly as she arrived, but after all, she had a guest to tend to.

_Half an hour earlier…_

Annie knew there was an exit through the fireplace that would take her outside. She wasn't about to let her man cheat on her, she was going to find them out there one way or another and catch him with that woman and give them a piece of her mind. She was tough like that, yeah, she was tough enough to handle the outside world…she was…wasn't she?

Amber Sweet sped down the road near the cemetery.


End file.
